The Road In Which Life Leads
by UnspokenFor92
Summary: What happens when one letter from Frank upon his death changes the lives of the Adams Foster family forever? AU.
1. The Road To A First Meeting

**A/N:** New to FanFiction my buddies **guitarkid, ahoplesship, **and **theadamsfosterkid** led me here. So please be gentle with those reviews, yes? I'm a huge fan of The Fosters and as I was lying in bed last night, this idea came to my head.

**All the background info that you need to know to comprehend what the hell is going on in this story:** Stef and Lena have been together for ten years (as per-pilot cannon), but Brandon and Callie are twins (hang in there with me please), Jesus, Mariana, and Jude are adopted by Stef and Lena. This story is set in senior year for Brandon and Callie and flashbacks will be throughout the entire story to learn about what their lives were like pre-this story. Also, Lena is the principal at Anchor Beach Community Charter School in this story... so yeah basically don't expect it to follow what actual-cannon actually is. However, scenes that I find cute or downright hilarious will be added into the story. And imagine this taking place after the episode Padre.

**Plot line:** Stef finds out some interesting hidden facts upon the death of her father. How will she deal with it? And how will her family react to this news?

**Disclaimer: **I don't own The Fosters or any of the obvious characters in here, if I did that would mean I would own Teri Polo and Sherri Saum and all the other cast members on the show... and as cool as they would be it would also be creepy... and I'm not creepy.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter One: The Road To A First Meeting<strong>

Stef Adams Foster was sitting on the front porch with a cup of coffee one Sunday morning. It had been a long, tiring few weeks upon the passing of her father. She had been putting this off, reading a handwritten letter from the man since she found it cleaning out his house.

"Be home by curfew please," Stef heard Lena say as the door opened.

"Alright, Mama," her 17 year old son said to your wife as he walked out to the front door.

"I love you," Stef heard her wife say as she came closer to the door.

"I love you too Mama," Brandon said.

"And don't leave the gas tank on empty," Lena said. "You know how Callie gets when you do that."

Brandon chuckled, "Yeah, yeah." He said. "Bye Mom," he said to Stef as he walked down to his car on his way to band practice.

"Bye B," she said. "I love you."

"I love you too, Mom." He said getting in the driver's seat and putting the key in the ignition and driving off.

Lena poked her head out to see her wife sitting there with a lukewarm cup of coffee staring at an enclosed envelope, she went to sit next to the blonde and put her head on the cop's shoulder, "Y'know," Lena whispered after awhile, "whatever it says in there, isn't going to change. You might as well rip it off like a band-aid."

Stef took a deep breath, "I'm scared in what it might say," she said.

"Do you want to do it alone?" Lena asked. Stef shook her head and turned it over to look at it.

_Dear Stef, _it began, _if you're reading this it means that I'm dead and if you're reading this it means I haven't gotten rid of it because I was too stubborn to make things right with you. I'm really sorry that I put my Christian faith before you. I'm sorry that I've let you and B and Callie down. I'm sorry. There's something you should know, something that how it came about, I'm not proud of, but the result is something so beautiful that I wouldn't wish for the mistake to be rectified. 23 years and nine months ago, I got a woman pregnant. You have a brother and I did father him at least a little. His name is Benjamin Lincoln Carlson. And other than you, he's the best thing that's come into my life. I know I didn't show it in the best way possible, but I do love you. I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me. Love, Dad_

Stef wiped the tears away from her eyes as she read it again, letting everything sink in, she had a brother. A brother that she knew nothing about. Lena was trying to comfort her wife in the best way that she knew how.

"Benjamin Carlson," Lena said softly. "Why does that name sound so familiar?"

"Not sure," Stef said, "maybe he lives in San Diego. Maybe he went to Anchor Beach."

"Maybe," Lena said. "Are you going to want to track him down?"

Stef shrugged, "I do, but I don't. I'm not even sure he knows about me." She said.

"Maybe it would be good," Lena said, "Connecting with this sibling. If he knew your dad even a little, who knows how he's taking it."

"What if he's like my dad?" Stef asked. "I'm not sure if I'm willing to deal with the judgement anymore."

"Then meet him," Lena said, "you don't have to have a relationship with him. Your only goal is to meet him. Who knows, maybe he needs a big sister in his life?"

"Maybe," Stef breathed. "Is it okay if I meet him alone?" She asked.

"Whatever makes you feel comfortable, baby." Lena said kissing her wife's cheek. "Just know, I'll always be here for you."

Stef nodded, "I do know that, I love you baby." She said.

"I love you too, sweetheart." Lena said. "I love you too."

* * *

><p>Stef spent the rest of the morning googling this supposed brother of hers when Jude walked into the kitchen nook where she was sitting.<p>

"Hey buddy," Stef said, "what's up?"

"Uh, Mama told me to tell you that lunch is ready." He said hesitantly seeing that Stef was busy.

"Okay," she said softly with a warm smile, "tell her I'll be in there in a minute."

The boy nodded and walked back into the other room. Stef looks back at the computer screen and looks at what she had clicked on. She had clicked on a popular media hub website that she knew that her older kids went on every once in awhile. She clicked on the _'Meet The Staff'_ tab on the website and what she was looking for was the first on the screen. She looked at a picture of this Benjamin Carlson and she knew that she found him. The man looked like a half Asian version of her - no - _their_ father. She read the bio:

_Benjamin Carlson, CEO_

_Education: BA and MA in Mass Communications and Journalism - San Diego State University_

_Grew up in: Split my formative, childhood years between Los Angeles with my mom and San Diego with my dad._

_Relationship status: I can barely take care of myself, let alone somebody else who needs me. In other words, single. Happily single._

_Favorite color: Blue_

_Favorite sport(s) team: Football? The Chargers. Baseball? The Dodgers. Go ahead, San Diego, hate me for it, but I'm forever bleeding Dodger Blue._

_Do what on your free time: I work out, surf, and occasionally spend time with my family back in LA._

_Role here at The Opinionated Buzz: To eat all the donuts and drink all the coffee in the break room. Actually, I'm the top guy. I make executive decisions that my colleagues don't get to... and I eat all the donuts and drink all the coffee in the break room._

Stef looked at the picture again and couldn't help, but see what her dad would've looked like if he had Asian in him. She woke up that morning thinking she was an only child and by lunch she found out that she had a younger brother, who she now just wanted to meet.

"Honey?" Lena called walking into the kitchen nook.

Stef made teary eye contact with her wife, "I found him," she whispered. Lena gave her a 'what are you talking about' look and Stef whispered again, "I found my baby brother."

Lena's eyes widened as she walked towards her wife and quickly sat next to her looking at the computer screen, "He's handsome." Lena managed.

"He looks like my dad, if he were to have Asian in him." Stef said. "I can't believe it, my baby brother's successful."

"Do you want to meet him?" Lena asked.

Stef nodded, "I do," she said. "I really, really do."

The couple shared a look and stared at each other for awhile and little did they know, their oldest daughter was standing on the other side of the entryway, listening into the conversation. She just wanted to make sure her mom was okay and she secretly learned that she had an uncle.

* * *

><p>The next day, Stef had off, so she decided to go meet this mysterious brother of hers. But before she would conquer that, she had to conquer a chaotic Adams Foster breakfast.<p>

"Callie," Stef yelled up the stairs for the third, "come on, shake a leg. Hurry up."

"I'll be down in like two minutes tops," a muffled yell was heard back.

"Jesus," Lena said, "did you take your medication?"

"Yes, Mama," he replied with his mouth full of a waffle.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Stef said. "Use your manners."

"Yes Mom," he said still with a mouthful of food.

Stef rolled her eyes, "At least he's not putting ketchup on it," Jude said from across Mariana, who was next to Jesus.

"_Don't_ encourage him," Lena said, "please be my favorite child and don't encourage your brother to put ketchup on his breakfast."

"I thought you didn't play favorites," Callie said walking into the room.

"Oh, she's alive," Stef said playfully, as Callie took her seat.

The teenager rolled her eyes as Stef placed her hands on the girl's shoulders, "Yeah, it's not my fault Mariana takes the longest in the bathroom in the morning."

"Well if you would get up earlier, you wouldn't be the last in the bathroom," Mariana argued back.

"What can I say?" Callie stated, "I like sleep. Especially during soccer season."

"Yeah," Lena said, "we know. If Vice Principal Brown finds you sleeping on the beach again, she is going to give you a detention. So please, take your naps after school, in your own bed."

Callie nodded and dug into her breakfast, "Will do, Mama," she said.

"Alright," Lena said addressing the entire family, "Mom has the day off today, but she's not picking you guys up from school. I have an all campus staff meeting and Callie has soccer practice, so you all either can go home with Brandon or walk, okay?"

Three okay's came from the three youngest Adams Foster kids and Brandon then spoke up, "And I have practice with the band, so if you want a ride please be on time."

"Yeah, we know bro," Jesus said.

As plates emptied, Stef cleared the table, getting nervous in meeting Benjamin. She was washing plates as Lena came behind her, "You nervous?" Lena asked, rubbing Stef's shoulders a little.

Stef nodded, "Yeah, really nervous." She admitted.

"If things go well, invite him over for dinner." Lena said.

"You sure?" Stef said. "What are we going to tell the kids?"

"The truth." Lena said, matter-of-factly.

"Should we warn them?" Stef asked.

Lena nodded, "They're all still here," she said. "We can do it before they leave."

Stef put the plate down and nodded, "Gather them around real quick." She said.

Lena nodded and went to gather the kids, "Alright one more thing," Lena said as all the kids stood in the kitchen. "Grandpa Frank left your mom a little letter." She started giving Stef time to gather her thoughts.

"Really?" Mariana asked, "Was it a mean letter?" She asked knowing how rough things were between the father-daughter duo.

"No," Stef answered, "it was actually really loving." The cop took a deep breath, "The reason I can't pick you up today is because I found out that I have a brother and I'm going to meet him."

"Where does he live?" Jude asked.

"I'm not sure, but he owns _The Opinionated Buzz, _and I'm going to his office downtown. I just don't know how long this is going to take and how I'm going to be feeling afterwards." Stef said, ruffling Jude's hair a little.

"And if things do go well, he might be over for dinner," Lena added. "So if that's the case, Mom will text all of you and we would like you to be on your best behavior, okay?"

Five nods were given to the moms, "Wait," Jesus said, "you have a brother who started one of the best media hubs in the world?" He asked incredulously.

"I guess," Stef said. "I'm not sure if he wants to get to know me. So we'll play everything by ear. You five just need to go to school and learn something okay?" Five more nods went around the room.

"Alright," Brandon said, "let's get a move on siblings."

And one by one the siblings left the kitchen leaving the couple alone for a moment, "Text me okay?" Lena said turning to her wife.

Stef leaned in to kiss her, "You know I will. I love you baby." She said.

"I love you too." Lena said returning the kiss.

* * *

><p>Stef took a deep breath as she looked at the building of where <em>The Opinionated Buzz<em> office was. She knew that this would either go really good or really, really bad. She walked in and saw the receptionist sitting at the front desk.

"Hi," the young woman said to Stef, "how can I help you?"

"I, uh, I was wondering if there was by any chance I could see a Benjamin Carlson?"

"Sure," the young woman chirped, "let me see if he's available. Can I get a name?"

"Uh yeah, Stefanie Adams Foster." She said stumbling over her own words.

The receptionist picked up the phone and called up to the editorial floor, "Hi, is Ben available?" She said. "I have a Stefanie Adams Foster, here to see him." Pause. "Uh huh, I'll send her up." The brunette receptionist hung up the phone, "Here's a guest pass," she said, "take the elevator to the top floor and his assistant will lead you to him."

"Sounds-sounds good," Stef said taking the guest pass walking to the elevator, to the top floor. When she got up there another young woman was standing there waiting for her.

"Stefanie Adams Foster?" The young woman asked as Stef stepped out of the elevator.

"Yes-yes, ma'am." Stef said, her nerves getting the best of her.

"This way," the young woman said. "You came on a good day, Mr. Carlson's schedule is wide open today."

"Oh, cool." Stef said. as she was led into a big corner office.

"Mr. Carlson," the young woman said, "I have a Stefanie Adams Foster for you."

"Ahh, Sarah, please, call me Ben, we've been over this already." He said standing up adjusting his tie. He looked at Stef straight in the eyes, "Hi, Mrs. Adams Foster," he said as his assistant walked out and closed the door behind her.

"Uh, you can call me Stef," she managed. "I, uh, I'm sorry to barge in like this."

"No, no," Ben said. "I've been waiting for this moment since I was five years old." Stef gave him a confused look, "I know, your Dad's daughter."

"You-you called him Dad?" Stef asked.

"Yeah, I mean, he was my dad too, right?" He asked feeling like he overstepped a line.

"Oh yeah, of course, sorry," Stef said. "You've been waiting to meet me ever since you were five?"

Ben nodded, "I have," he said. "Dad didn't talk much about you other than when I asked who you were in a picture. Especially after you and your partner, Lena got together."

Stef nodded understandingly, "I hope that it doesn't bother you that I'm gay." She got out.

"It won't," he said. "Y'see, Dad wasn't a huge fan of my mom for that same factor. My mom and her partner have been together ever since I was five."

"Your-your mom is gay?" Stef asked.

Ben nodded, "Yeah," he smiled as he walked over to his desk and picked up a picture frame and showed it to Stef. The picture showed five people, Ben, two other kids - a teenage boy and a young girl - and two grown women. They were dressed up for what looked like a wedding, "My moms just recently got married. As you can see the Asian woman is my mom and the white blonde is my mama. My mama taught my mom how to be herself. She hid in the closet for years before I was even born. Hence my conception."

"Oh," Stef said. "Uh, your brother and sister, how did they become family? If you don't mind me asking." She asked.

"We adopted them out of the foster care system when they both were eight," he said. "Leo is 17 and Leah is 10."

Stef smiled, "Yeah, Lena and I have three of our own that we did that with too. I already had twins when Lena and I started seeing each other."

Ben smiled a charming smile, "That's really cool, Stef." He said.

Things were going a lot smoother than Stef thought, so she decided to take the plunge, "I don't want to take up your entire day, but uh if you're not busy tonight, Lena and the kids want to meet you. Lena is probably the best cook I've ever met. So, if you want to come over, you're more than welcome."

"Uh yeah," he said. "I was going to just sit around the house tonight, but meeting some family wouldn't be too bad."

"Cool, uh, if you have some paper I can write down the address for you." Stef said.

"Yeah for sure, definitely," he said grabbing a scratch piece of paper off the desk.

Stef jotted down the address and handed it to him, "I'd like to get to know you better." She said.

He nodded, "Me too," he said. "I've always wanted to meet you."

Stef smiled warmly, "We may have one problem though," she said.

"What's that?" He asked nervously.

"According to your website, you're a Dodgers fan." She started.

"Uh yeah, born and raised pretty much in LA." He got out.

"Y'see my middle son and I are Padres fans, in fact, so was Dad. He _hated_ the Dodgers."

"Which made watching Dodger-Padre games all the more fun and the fun continues." He said with a smile.

Stef smiled, yesterday morning she woke up as an only child, this morning she woke up as an nervous older sister, to what she found out by lunch was to the best younger brother ever.

* * *

><p><strong>AN 2:** The next chapter will be the Adams Foster dinner with Ben! Hope you like it.


	2. The Road To Sibling Bonding

**A/N:** Hey oh! Thanks for the support!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Two: The Road To Sibling Bonding<strong>

Stef was still a little nervous when she got home. She sent a text in the family ongoing text message to her wife and kids.

**_Stef:_**_ Hey beautiful family! Tonight's a go! Kids, please be on time for dinner to meet Ben. And Lena honey, I've got dinner handled._

Stef paced the kitchen trying to figure out the perfect dinner for her family and her brother. She had originally said Lena was going to cook, but then she realized that Lena had an all campus staff meeting before dinner that night. Ben had said upon her leaving the office that he's still in that mindset of a college student.

_"If it's free and delicious, I don't care what it is." He said as he walked her to her car._

That didn't help Stef any, but she was still on board for making her brother the best dinner ever. She was brought out of her thoughts by her phone ringing, she answered it with a smile, "Hi love," she said to Lena.

_"Hi baby," Lena said. "How bad are you stressing out right now?"_

"What makes you think I'm stressed out?" Stef asked incredulously.

_"Baby," Lena said through a chuckle, "I know you. You want things perfect for tonight."_

"He's been wanting to meet me since he was five." Stef said. "Of course I want things perfect."

_"And you were worried that he wouldn't accept you because you were gay." Lena said with a knowing smile on her face._

"His mom is gay," Stef said. "My dad, I guess, had a huge problem with it. So the poor kid was back and forth between here and LA for 13 years."

_"Oh?" Lena said, "His mom is gay? Really?"_

"Mhm," she acknowledged, "they adopted two kids out of the foster care system. He really seems down to Earth and like he's got a good head on his shoulders. I feel like he'll be a good influence on our kids."

_"Yeah?" Lena said softly. "That's good."_

"What should I make for dinner?" Stef asked.

_"Barbecue up those steaks in the freezer?" Lena suggested, "You know Callie's going to want to some protein after practice and we've been saving them for a special occasion."_

"Yeah, introducing my baby brother to our kids _is_ a special occasion." Stef said.

_"Everything's going to be fine," Lena assured. "I can't wait to meet him."_

"Yeah, I can't wait for our family to meet him." Stef said about to prepare a huge feast for her family.

* * *

><p>7 o'clock rolled around and the sound of the doorbell made the entire Adams Foster household go silent. Stef went to the door with Lena as all the kids were in the living room. Stef opened the door to a nervous looking man on the other side of the door holding a bottle of Chardonnay.<p>

"Hey," Stef said, "come on in."

Ben walked into the house and said, "I know you said not to bring anything, but uh, I figured a bottle of Chardonnay would be okay."

"Thank you, Ben," Stef said taking the bottle and then saying, "This is my wife, Lena. My love this is Ben."

Ben nervously stuck his hand out, "It's nice to meet you," he said.

"It's _really_ nice to meet you as well," Lena said shaking his hand. "If you come in we'll introduce our kids to you."

"Uh yeah," Ben said, following the couple into the living room where all of the kids stood in age order to meet their uncle.

"So from oldest to youngest, we have Brandon," she said gesturing to the young man, who stuck his hand out for Ben to shake. "Callie," who gave him a small nod and shook his hand. "Jesus," who shook his hand, "Mariana," who shook his hand. "And our youngest Jude," Stef concluded as the youngest child and the man shook hands.

"It's uh nice to meet you guys." Ben said.

"You too," he got simultaneously from the five children.

"So uh, we can come into the dining room, dinner is ready." Stef said leading the way.

"Uh yeah," Ben said, "sounds good."

As everybody sat down, it was obvious that both Stef and Ben was getting more and more nervous. The kids stared skeptically at the man. And Lena was trying to break the ice as dinner started.

From one end of the table Lena asked, "So Ben, how long have you lived in San Diego?" She asked.

The man was cutting a piece of his steak off, "Uh, I lived here part-time since I was about four and a half, but I came out here full time for school and I love it here so my buddy Raider and I started a business downtown."

"Four and a half?" Stef asked incredulously from the other end of the table right next to the man. "That was nineteen years ago."

"Uhh yeah," Ben said, "Dad was good at hiding things. Especially in situations that he's not exactly proud of." He added with a shrug.

Stef looked over at Lena realizing that the police officer probably made the man feel uncomfortable in some way.

"Well, I'm sure your parents appreciate that you didn't follow in your Dad and sister's footsteps in becoming a police officer. Makes her sleep a little better at night."

"Uh yeah," he said. "Both my moms do."

"What do they do?" Stef asked.

"My mom is a doctor, a medical oncologist and my mama is a lawyer, a civil rights attorney." He answered with somewhat of a proud smile on his face thinking about the two women that he has the honor of calling _mom._

"Wow," the kids manage to look up from their dinner long enough to look at the man.

"Do you have any siblings?" Mariana asked curiously from next to him.

"Uh yeah, I have a 17 year old brother and a 10 year old sister. Both adopted out of the foster care system." He answered. "Uh what about you Lena?" He asked trying to get the light off of him, "I know what Stef does, but what about you?"

"I'm just an educator," Lena answered receiving weird looks from her wife and kids. "What?" She asked incredulously.

"You're not _just_ an educator, Mama," Callie answered for her mom and siblings.

"Yeah," Jesus piped in, "try the _best_ educator that Anchor Beach has."

"Anchor Beach?" Ben asked. "As in Anchor Beach Community Charter School?"

"Yeah," Stef said, "Lena's the principal over there," she added looking fondly over at her wife. "You heard of it?"

"Uh yeah," Ben said. "Our Editor-in-Chief at _The Opinionated Buzz_ has her children going there."

"Really?" Lena asked, "Who is she?"

"Taylor Bradshaw," he said, "She has two high schoolers and a middler schooler there. I think their names are Aiden, Emily, and Hannah?" He said looking off into space trying to remember.

"Oh yes," Lena said. "Aiden is actually Brandon's best friend and Callie's boyfriend." She added gesturing to the older twins.

"Small world," Ben said with a smile as he took a sip of the water in front of him.

After a few minutes of people eating, "What made you want to start _The Opinionated Buzz_?" Mariana asked putting the light back on the man.

Ben chuckled nervously, "Just a guys night that turned into a brainstorming night right before we finished our master's program."

"You finished your master's program at 21?" Callie asked knowing that the site had been up and running for two years.

He nodded, "I graduated from high school at 15," he said. "Had my bachelor's degree by the age of 19 and master's degree at 21."

Stef looked over at her brother, almost in disbelief, "You graduated high school at 15?" She asked incredulously.

Ben chuckled, "Yeah, Dad couldn't believe it when I graduated that early too." He said.

"Did you always want to do what you do now?" Jude asked from next to Lena.

"Yeah, I mean, I do all the programming work for the website and make all the executive decisions with my business partners, but I wouldn't trade my job or how I got here for the world."

"You enjoy it?" Brandon asked from the other side of Lena.

"It makes the long hours worth it," Ben answered.

"Long hours?" Stef asked, slightly raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah," he said. "Some days, I don't even go home. I'm good at working through the night and sometimes I lose track of time."

"I'm sure your roommates must worry," Lena said, thinking he lived in an apartment downtown.

"Uh, I actually don't have roommates." He said. "All my business partners and editorial board is married, some even with kids."

"Oh," Lena said, "so where do you live? If you don't mind me asking."

"My moms own a beach house in Ocean Beach, so I live there." He said. "The sound of the ocean calms me down after a rough day."

"One of the reasons why I originally took the job at Anchor Beach was because of the ocean," Lena said.

"Yeah, it's why I love living along it. That and I don't have to drive for my surf sessions." He said through a chuckle.

As silence filled the room again, the family finished their dinner, and then Jesus broke the silence, "Alright, I speak for the kids in this room right now when I ask, what are we supposed to call you?"

The moms and other kids chuckled and when Ben looked up from his plate and said, "I don't expect you to call me Uncle Ben, but if you want, that's cool too."

Stef and Lena shared a loving look across the table with a soft smile and a conversation with their eyes. Yeah, Ben would be the greatest influence on their teenagers.

* * *

><p>Stef and Ben were sitting out of the front porch swing drinking a glass of the wine he brought. The kids and Lena had retired to bed about an hour before. They had talked about the insignificant things and were getting into the deeper conversation.<p>

"How'd you know I was Dad's daughter when I came into your office today?" Stef asked him.

Ben looked down at his half full glass of wine and said, "Because I was at the funeral and some of the wake."

"You were?" She asked.

He nodded, "But, I had to leave earlier because a problem arose at work and I felt a little awkward being in your home when you didn't know that I was your brother."

"Would you have told me?" Stef asked.

Ben shook his head, "I was content knowing that you were happy with a beautiful family," he said. "I didn't want to cause any drama by telling you."

"How are you doing?" Stef asked, "With Dad's death?"

"I have my good days and bad days." He answered. "Getting that call wasn't easy."

"Which one of the kids called you?" Stef asked knowing that she had her kids call everybody in his address book.

"Uhh, I'm horrible with names," he said, "but it was one of your girls."

"Callie is the older one," Stef reminded gently.

"Okay, so it was the younger one," he said.

"Mariana," Stef answered. Ben nodded feeling bad that he couldn't remember his nieces or nephews names. "It's okay," Stef added, "you have to remember seven names and we just have to remember one. It's got to be a little challenging."

He nodded, "Yeah," he said. "How'd you find out about me?" He asked looking into his older sister's eyes.

"Dad wrote me a letter," she said. "I found it while I was cleaning out his house."

"Oh," Ben said. "Is the house completely cleaned out?" He asked.

"No, it's been a slow process because I'm sure he wouldn't be too happy if Lena helped with it and the kids always seem to be busy when I go over. Why?"

"He was my dad too," he said. "Maybe it's something we could do together. We both have a good share of memories in that house."

"Really?" Stef asked. "You'd really help me?"

Ben nodded, "Maybe you and I can start bonding through it." He suggested.

Stef's face lit up, "Of course, yeah. I mean whenever you're available." She said. "This weekend?" She suggested.

"Uhh my moms and siblings will be in town, but I can work something out." He said.

"If you want to spend time with them," she said, "that's understandable."

"My birthday is Saturday," he said. "They're making a huge ass deal out of nothing."

"Celebrating your birth isn't a huge ass deal," Stef said.

"23 is just a number." He challenged. "Damn, your worse than Dad when it comes to this."

"What can I say?" Stef said, "It's in the Elkin family genes."

Ben chuckled, "They want to meet you." He said. "My moms and siblings. They were so happy when you reached out. My moms called after you left."

"Wouldn't that be awkward?" Stef asked.

"They told me to invite you, Lena, and the kids to my place for dinner on Saturday." He said. "They don't believe in awkward situations. Sometimes that in itself is really awkward." He chuckled.

"Okay, I'll make sure it's okay with Lena and clear the kids' schedules and I'll get back to you." She said.

"Sounds good." He said.

* * *

><p>It was well after three in the morning by the time Stef made it upstairs and into bed, spooning Lena from behind.<p>

"About time you joined me," Lena sleepily mumbled.

"Sorry," Stef said, "we just got to talking."

"That's good," Lena said turning in her wife's arms. "He seems really nice."

"He is," Stef said. "I really like him."

Lena buried her face in the crook of Stef's neck, "I think it'll be good for you, y'know?"

"What's that?" Stef asked, gently kissing the top of Lena's head.

"Having him around," Lena said.

"Why do you think that?" Stef asked, gently rubbing Lena's back.

"He understands what you're feeling with your dad because he's feeling it too." Lena said.

Stef nodded understandingly, "He invited us and the kids to his birthday celebration with his moms and siblings on Saturday."

"Oh?" Lena said. "This Saturday?"

"Yeah, is that a problem?" Stef asked worriedly.

"You just are going to have to steal Brandon and Callie away from Mike for an evening." Lena said. "It's his weekend with them."

"Oh right," she said, running her fingers through Lena's curls, "I'll talk to him about it tomorrow. What about the other kids?"

"We can make them available," Lena said, tangling her legs with Stef.

"Sounds good," Stef said through a yawn, quickly fading.

* * *

><p><strong>AN 2: **I got on a roll and didn't stop. Hope you enjoyed that.


	3. The Road To Family

**A/N:** Thank you for your support!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Three: The Road To Family<strong>

Stef and Ben had hit it off pretty well, they had lunch two times after the dinner and kept in contact the entire week. So by the time Saturday rolled around neither one of them were really nervous. Although, both of them were a little nervous in the Adams Foster family meeting Ben's moms and siblings. Ben was running around the beach house cleaning up on a Saturday afternoon. His moms and siblings were staying in a hotel down the road and the house was pretty cluttered from his lack of picking things up. He and Stef had spent the morning finishing cleaning out Frank's house and went their separate ways. As he finished picking up, he heard the door open.

"Hello birthday boy," his mom's voice called through the house.

"Hey Mom, Mama, Leo, and Leah." Ben said as he was wiping down the counter.

The four walked into the kitchen seeing the man in a frantic state. His moms looked at him with an amused smile.

"Honey," his mom said. "What's gotten into you? I thought you already met Stef and her family."

"I have," he said. "They just haven't been over here yet and I don't want it to look like I live in a bachelor pad."

"Bro," Leo said, "I hate to break it to you, but you're a bachelor and this is your pad."

The moms laughed along with their youngest son and seeing their oldest a little amused, "I know, but they live in Mission Bay and when I was over there on Monday night, I've never seen a house full of teenagers and two working parents so, well, _clean._"

"How bad was it before we got here?" His mama asked.

"Pretty bad," he said. "I've been so busy with work that I haven't really had time to pick up stuff and fold laundry."

"S'okay big brother," Leah said coming to hug him. "Happy birthday."

"Hey munchkin." Ben said hugging the girl in return. "Thanks."

"So when are they going to be here?" His mom asked smiling at him still hugging his sister.

"I told Stef 6:00." He said. "So probably 5:45," he said, knowing that his sister was always 15 minutes ahead of schedule. "So," he added looking at his watch, "any minute now."

"What's she like?" His mama asked. "Everything your dad said she was like?"

"Let's just put it this way," he said grabbing a bottle of wine from the mini cellar under the counter, "she's a completely white, female version of me."

His mom chuckled, "Oh god," she said.

"What?" Ben asked his mom opening the fridge to open a beer.

"Honey," his mom said, "you put up the tough exterior to the world, but to us you are the softest human being ever. Now that I think about it, your father was like that too."

"Well it must run in the Elkin side of the family, now doesn't it?" He said as the doorbell rang. "The food's in the refrigerator if you want to start cooking Mama."

"Sounds good," the lawyer said getting the food out.

Ben walked to the door with his beer in hand and opened it, "Hey," he said to his sister and her family. "Come on in guys. Where's Brandon and Callie?" He asked.

"On their way," Stef said, hugging her brother, "from their dad's."

He nodded, "Sounds good." He said leading them to the kitchen. "Can I get you guys anything to drink?" He asked entering the kitchen.

"We're good for now, thanks." Lena said.

"Sounds good," he said as his moms and siblings stood up a little straighter. "Uhh Moms, Leo, Leah, this is Stef and her wife Lena and three of five of their kids, let me see if I can get this right," he said. "Mariana?"

"Yes," the girl said.

"Jesus?" He then said pointing at the boy.

"That's me," he smiled.

"And Jude? Yes?" He asked as Jude nodded.

"Cool," he said. "Uhh Adams Foster family, these are my moms."

"Kelly," his mom said shaking Stef hand first.

"Payton," his mama said shaking Lena's hand.

"And these two goofballs are my uh younger siblings, Leo and Leah." Ben said.

"Nice to meet you," Stef said. "Our two oldest should be here any minute."

Kelly and Payton nodded, "So uh yeah," Ben said, "make yourself at home. Dinner should be ready by six thirty."

"You have a nice home," Lena mentioned.

"Thanks," Ben said. "This couldn't have happened with my moms." He softly smiled. "You should see the view I have of the Pacific, when the sun is setting," he added. "Come on. I want to show you something," he led his sister-in-law up a set of stairs into a bedroom and then out on the balcony.

Sure enough, when he opened the balcony doors, the sun was setting. It was a beautiful mixture of red and yellow and the sound of the ocean filled the balcony.

"Wow," Lena breathed. "This is beautiful."

Ben chuckled, "Yeah, it really is," he said. "After I found out my and Stef's dad died, I sat on this balcony, all night long, and the sound of the ocean brought things back into perspective."

Lena smiled at how the man was opening up to her a little, she always made sure she was non-threatening to him, "Grieving is a strange process."

He chuckled, "Yeah, it's like one moment you're fine and the next moment a mess. I usually like roller coasters, just not with my emotions."

Lena chuckled, "Yeah, you are your sister's brother," she said jokingly making the man smile.

* * *

><p>Brandon was driving through Ocean Beach with Callie trying to find their uncle's house when Callie asked a question.<p>

"So, how do we feel about this guy?" She asked her twin.

"What do you mean?" Brandon asked the girl.

"Like, he comes in and the other twins and Jude and Moms fall in love with him, but something about the guy seems off." Callie said. "Not in a bad way, just like, he has that feel about him."

"I think he's a man, who's been handed a rough hand of cards, and is making the most of it." Brandon answered. "I also think you're over-thinking this whole thing. If he was bad news, I don't think Moms would want us around him even if they were around."

"Handed a rough hand of cards?" Callie questioned. "Do you know something about him that I don't?"

Brandon sighed, "Think about it, his mom is gay and his dad was Grandpa Frank. You know how bad it could've gotten. Grandpa Frank all, but disowned Mom after she and Lena got together. Could you imagine some of the things that he said to Ben about her?"

"I didn't think of that," Callie said as they pulled up to the house. "I guess you're right."

"Yeah, he split his childhood between LA and here," Brandon said pulling up behind their mom's Terrain. "I think we should give him a chance before making judgements."

Callie sighed, "Okay," she said. "But that doesn't mean that I'll warm up to him immediately." She added.

Brandon chuckled, "Yeah, I wouldn't expect anything less from you, Striker," he said, tacking on her soccer position. "Just, y'know, be nice." He added. "It has to be awkward at times for both Mom and Ben. Don't add to that."

Callie nodded as they got out of the car and walked up to the door and rang the doorbell, Stef answered the door knowing that her two oldest children were standing there.

"Wow, do you live here now?" Callie quipped as Stef took a step outside and shut the door behind her.

"You guys were supposed to be here like ten minutes ago." Stef said. "What happened?"

"You know our dad," Brandon said. "He was introducing us to his new girlfriend and wouldn't let us leave until five minutes after we were supposed to."

"Yeah," Callie added, "and after merging off the 8 we hit every single red light on the way here. Sorry Mom." She said sincerely.

"Your dad has a new girlfriend," Stef asked raising an eyebrow.

"Is that all you just got out of that?" Callie asked incredulously.

"What's her name?" Stef asked, ignoring her daughter's question.

"Dani," Brandon answered knowing that they weren't going to get anywhere if they didn't answer her questions.

"Is she older? Younger? How young?" Stef got out.

"Hey Mom, like we told Dad in a seven year old way when you and Lena got together, if you want to know about his love life, ask him yourself," Callie said.

"Easy with the attitude, kid." Stef said looking at her daughter.

"So uhm, are we going to stand here all evening?" Brandon asked watching the intense stare down between his mom and sister.

"Yes," Stef said, "come on in and behave," she said pointing at Callie. "I mean it."

"Okay, okay," Callie said with her hands up in defense as they walked in seeing Lena and Ben walking downstairs from that view.

"Hey babies," Lena said to Brandon and Callie.

"Hi Mama," they both said simultaneously. "Hi Uncle Ben," Brandon said.

Ben smiled softly, "Hey guys." He said. "Everybody is in here." He led the couple and the older twins into the kitchen, "Mom, Mama, Stef and Lena's oldest kids are here."

"Brandon and Callie, yes?" Kelly asked as she turned and looked at them.

"Yes ma'am," Brandon said.

"I'm Kelly and this is my wife, Payton." The woman said.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Payton said with a plate full of hamburgers.

"Likewise," Callie said politely.

* * *

><p>An hour later, everybody was sitting around the table out on the deck facing the ocean, eating, laughing, and having a good time. Stef placed her arm around the back of Lena's chair and looked around at her family with her brother's family. Jesus and Jude were talking about some video game with Leo. Callie and Mariana were talking to Leah about something and Brandon was talking about his band with Payton while Lena was talking with Kelly about some story they saw on the news. Stef then looked at her brother who was texting somebody under the table.<p>

"You're worse than our teenagers bro," Stef said chuckling.

"Huh, what?" Ben said coming back into focus.

"The whole texting under the table thing," Stef called him out making Kelly snap her head in his direction.

"Ben," she softly chastised.

"Sorry Ma," he said. "I'll be right back, something is blowing up at work."

"I thought we agreed no work tonight," Kelly said as he walked back inside.

"It'll be all of five minutes tops," he called back out to his mom.

Kelly sighed, "He always does this," she said to the table.

"It's alright love," Payton said. "We knew it was going to be like this even before it started."

"I know," the woman said, "I just figured he'd take his birthday off."

Leo chuckled from across the table, "Mom," he said. "It's hard enough getting him to do it for a family dinner in LA. He doesn't know how to relax."

"He's going to work himself to death if he isn't careful," Kelly said lowly.

"What do you mean?" Callie asked the woman. "He's always like this?"

"Yeah," Kelly said, "a workaholic. To its definition."

"I know he said he works long hours," Stef said, "but is it really as bad as it seems?"

"Yes," Payton said putting her arm around Kelly's shoulders. "It's an ongoing argument with these two," she said referring to Kelly and Ben.

"Maybe, I could talk to him," Stef said.

"One stressed out person to another?" Lena jokingly asked through a chuckle.

"I'm not a stressed out person," Stef defended.

"Yes you are," the Adams Foster family all said at once.

"You two really are alike, eh?" Leo asked Stef.

"I guess so," Stef said getting up and walking into the house.

When Stef walked into the house, she saw her brother pacing the kitchen, "No, no, no, I already vetoed that." He said roughly running his hands through his hair. "Because it's an awful idea and we'll lose traffic." Pause. "I'm not even sure how that's journalism anyway." Another pause. "Just no, I vetoed it in our all staff meeting yesterday." A third pause. "Okay? And how does that represent what _The Opinionated Buzz_ is all about?" A fourth pause. "Fine, if you run it and we lose traffic, I'm never going to go back on my vetoes. Got it?" He said frustratedly caving. "Alright, now if I can get back to my family birthday celebration my mom would thank you. Okay, bye."

Ben frustratedly hung up and gently through his phone on the counter, Stef stepped into the kitchen, "Wow," she said. "That seemed intense."

"I'm not sure why this generation of kids live off of worthless celebrities and their personal lives. And then journalists make it an excuse for journalism." He said shaking his head.

"You seem tense," Stef noticed. "Everything really okay? Because you have a mom out there who is worried about you."

"I'm fine," he said. "Just a little tense."

"Look," the police officer said, "I know we've known each other for less than a week and it should take awhile before we have our first brother-sister moment, but your mom feels like you're going to work yourself to death."

"I'm fine," he argued. "I'm a business owner and clearly what my partners and staff think I am, the only one with veto power." He said frustratedly before he sighed. "Sorry, I don't mean to vent to you."

Stef shrugged, "That's what older siblings are for." She said stepping into the big sister mode that she always wanted to step into. "I want you to be able to come to me," she added stepping forward pulling him into a tight hug.

The two stood like that for what seemed like forever until Ben pulled away and smiled, "Uh thanks," he said awkwardly.

Stef shrugged, "No problem, bro." She said. "And I mean it," she added sincerely.

* * *

><p>Back outside Lena, Kelly, and Payton were talking while the kids, who had finished their dinner, were playing in the somewhat private beach along the house.<p>

"So," Kelly said, "how'd you and Stef meet?"

Lena smiled at the memory, "She was enrolling the older twins in Anchor Beach," she said. "We kept talking and when I saw it go somewhere it shouldn't have, I ended it, because she was still married to Mike. And she said the most romantic thing I've ever heard, she said-"

"I told Mike, my dad, and all, well most of my friends, I told them that I'm gay. I even used the word lesbian. I told them that I found a woman that I couldn't live without. And that I belong with you, Lena." Stef said coming out of the house with a less tense Ben in tow.

Stef sat down next to Lena and put her arm around the woman and kissed her forehead, "Yeah, that's how we got together."

"That's really romantic," Kelly said, watching the couple gaze into each other's eyes.

"Yeah," Lena said looking over at the other couple, "how about you guys?"

Kelly looked at Payton with sad eyes as the lawyer cleared her throat, "Uh, my domestic partner had breast cancer and Kelly was her oncologist." Payton said with tears in her eyes. "A year and a half after my partner was diagnosed, she passed away."

Kelly got the hint to continue as her wife got choked up, "I like to follow up with families just to see how they're doing and we kept in contact. I helped her through the grieving and she helped me through the custody battle with Frank and helped me be true with myself. We fell in love and now here we are."

"There was a custody battle?" Stef asked surprised.

Ben chuckled, he may have been young, but he remembered all of the arguing and yelling.

"Yeah after the paternity test and how I worked long hours, he wanted 80% custody. I think he wanted to make up for failing you," she said to Stef, making Ben spit out his beer.

"How'd you and our dad meet?" Stef asked. "If you don't mind me asking."

Kelly chuckled, "A church retreat," she answered getting three confused looks from her son and his sister and sister-in-law. "I was trying to prove to myself that I wasn't gay. Clearly, that didn't work." Payton was rubbing her arm as she continued, "He was old enough to be my dad," she mentioned. "But, he made me feel special and I felt guilty when I found out that I was pregnant and I left."

"So you originally lived here?" Lena asked.

"Born and raised," she said. "Went to UCSD for med school. Took the first offer out of here. And it got me to where I am today which I wouldn't trade for anything."

"She works at the UCLA Medical Center," Payton said with pride in her voice.

"Yeah," Kelly said. "What about you ladies?" She asked the other couple. "What do you do?"

"I'm an educator at Anchor Beach Community Charter School," Lena said, "Been on the admin staff for close to fifteen years now. Been principal for three years now."

Stef smiled fondly on her wife before she said, "And, I'm a police officer for the North Park precinct." Stef said.

"Oh like your dad." Kelly said.

"Yeah, just like my dad," Stef said. "I'm sure you're happy that this one didn't follow in our footsteps."

"We sleep better at night," Payton said, "that's for sure."

"And that's why I chose journalism over what I originally was going to do." Ben said sipping his beer.

Kelly squinted her eyes at the man, "And what was that?" She asked incredulously.

"If you say law enforcement, it'll just prove to me even more than we _are_ related." Stef said.

"No, I was going to do four years of school and join the military." Ben said.

Kelly's eyes widened, "Please tell me you're just kidding." She said stiffening.

"Why would I joke about serving our country?" The man asked. "I just knew that you would freak out, so I went with a desk job."

Payton softly smiled at their son, "We appreciate that honey," she said.

"So," Stef said, "is there cake?"

"Stef," Lena softly chastised.

"What?" She said looking her wife, "It isn't a birthday party without cake."

"Agreed," Ben said tipping the beer bottle to his sister.

"You two really are alike," Payton mentioned.

The sister-brother duo shared a look, smiling at each other. It was a relationship worth building.

* * *

><p><strong>AN 2:** So I know I thanked you guys before this chapter, but you have no idea how much your support means to me! I was very hesitant when posting because I know there are a lot of Brallie fans out there and them being twins might cause an issue for them, but the idea has been playing around in my head for awhile and I can't wait to continue it with your support.

Over the next few chapters, Stef is really going to get to know Ben and Ben is really going to get to know the Adams Foster family. I really hope you stick around.


	4. The Road To Suppressed Anger

**A/N:** Thanks for sticking with me! Your support means the world! Managed to hash out two chapters today! Lucky you guys! :)

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Four: The Road To Suppressed Anger <strong>

It had become a trend over the last month, Stef would crash Ben's office for lunch Monday through Friday and Ben would spend his weekends with the Adams Foster family. Saturday mornings would consist of Stef waking up and making coffee and waking her brother up to help her make breakfast.

"Bro," Stef whispered trying to wake him up, "Bro," she shoved his shoulder.

Ben grumbled, "Stef, it's early, please let me sleep." He mumbled turning his back to his sister.

"I have coffee ready for you," Stef said, "I even brought it to you." She added making the man open his eyes halfway and looking over his shoulder.

"Have I mentioned that you're the best sister ever," he said sitting up.

"I'll be sure to keep that comment to myself when Leah is around." She said sitting down next to him looking at him bring the cup of coffee to his lips and hum in appreciation.

"Well you're the best big sister ever," he amended, "just don't tell Lena."

Stef smiled in addition to her spending time with him, Lena did too. She liked the fact that her wife was interested in getting to know her brother just as much as she did. It warmed Stef's heart to watch the bond the curly haired woman and the half Asian man had. It warmed her heart to see the bond that they were creating and that her brother was creating with all her children. Well, almost all her children, Callie still refused to warm up to him. Stef made a mental note to talk to the girl about it later before her soccer game.

"I heard that," Lena said padding down the stairs, "and I'm offended," she mocked seriousness.

"Sorry Lena," the man said, "Stef brought me coffee in bed, the best way to get to my heart is make coffee for me and bring it to me."

"Noted," Lena said with a soft smile. "What's the plan for you two today?"

"We have to finish cleaning out Dad's house," Stef said. "We'll be done with it by the end of today."

"The realtor called me and said she'd be by first thing Monday morning to take a look around," Ben said, "So I'm taking the morning off, so you don't have to."

"Thanks Ben," Stef said.

He shrugged, "You've got seven months to feed," he said. "Eight if you include mine on the weekend. The least I could do. Besides, I can work from there if I absolutely need to."

"You're the best little brother in the world," Stef said, ruffling his hair.

Ben ducks his head, "I try." He said. As silence filled the room, Ben asked a serious question to the couple, "Hey, uh question for you two."

"What's up?" They both said simultaneously.

He took a deep breath before asking, "What's Callie's deal against me?"

The couple shared a knowing look with each other, knowing what he was talking about, but not really sure how to answer the man's question.

* * *

><p>"Are you kidding me?" Callie yelled at Brandon, "I've said that I needed our shared car today all week."<p>

"It's a last minute band gig," he said. "Where Someone's Little Sister is getting paid."

"I don't care," Callie said, "I have a soccer tournament where I could get a scholarship because scouts are going to be there watching the game."

"The money I make could put gas in our car," Brandon argued.

"Oh don't go there, you know betweens Moms and Dad, we'll be just fine." Callie yelled back, causing Stef and Lena to come up the stairs.

"What's going on up here?" Stef asked in her no nonsense voice.

"What do you think is going on, Mom?" Mariana asked, "They're fighting over the car _again._"

"I thought we worked out the car situation," Lena said. "Callie gets it because she has to drive to San Ysidro for her tournament."

"The band got a last minute gig," Brandon said.

"Well sorry kiddo," Stef said, "Callie has first dibs on the car since hers was planned out."

"I guess I can see if Lou or Mat can come pick me up." He mumbled going into his room getting his phone.

"So wait," Callie said, "you aren't coming to my game?"

"Sorry Striker," Brandon said from his room, "this could be big for us."

Callie sighed, "What about you?" She asked her mom.

"Of course," she said kissing the girls head. "I think your father is working though."

"I know that," Callie said. "What about you Mama?"

"Yeah, I'll be there." Lena said, "2:30, yes?" Callie nodded.

"Callie," Stef then said, "may I speak with you for a minute?" She asked as Lena turned to go back downstairs and Mariana went back into the girls' shared room.

"Uh yeah sure," Callie said following her mom into the master bedroom. "What's up?" Callie asked.

"What do you have against your uncle?" Stef cut straight to the point. "You've done nothing, but ignore him for the past month. And every time you don't, it's because he's asked you a question... about soccer."

"So, I have to conform to how you, Lena, and the rest of the kids believe and warm up to him right away?" She challenged.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Stef asked with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"You find out that you have a brother," the teenager began, "you track him down, show up at his office, fall in love with him, and then make us meet him not out of our own free will, and then what? Expect us to warm up to him immediately? Mom, I love you, but even I'm not that naïve."

"When did you stop trusting people?" Stef asked. "If Mama and I thought he was a bad influence, we wouldn't have him around."

"I trust people," Callie argued. "I just am careful who I trust."

"He's trying to level with you, babe." Stef said, caressing the girl's cheek. "You just need to level with him."

"I'll try," she managed to say, "but don't expect things to be perfect." She said walking out of the room initiating the end of the conversation.

* * *

><p>Stef and Ben were in the process of cleaning out the garage in a relative silence when Stef finally broke it by bringing attention to the car in the middle of the garage that was covered up.<p>

"Okay," she said uncovering it, "when did Dad get a hotrod car?"

"I beg your pardon, this is not a hotrod, it's a 1954 Thunderbird Mustang," he said. "It's a beautiful creation."

"Not too much of a difference, but okay." she said. "I clearly haven't been in here in awhile."

"Yeah," he said. "We uh restored it through all four years of my undergrad."

"Really?" Stef asked. The man hadn't really shared any memories that he had with their shared father, so the fact that he was opening up about this was beautiful in Stef's mind.

He nodded, "Yeah," he said. "We wanted something to do together so we decided to restore a car together. Some of my best memories with Dad was building this car."

"I knew he liked cars, I never knew why." Stef said.

"When we were out in this garage," Ben said, "nothing else mattered. It was me, him, sports radio, a beer for him, and rootbeer for me. We were just men doing what most men do. Every time I was here and the Padres were in LA, there'd be a debate as each inning went on. I didn't feel like an outsider in his mind."

"You felt like an outsider?" Stef asked.

"Just I felt like I always had to defend my mom and in return when he'd make a mention about you and Lena, I'd defend you two as well. I never understood why he would let his religion get in the way of loving his _only_ daughter."

"He tried in the end," Stef said. "I just couldn't see it."

"I wouldn't blame you," Ben said, "his religious ways were full of double standards anyway."

"Hey," Stef said, "why don't you take the car?" She offered, "You and Dad built it together. You should have it since you're not taking anything else."

"Really?" Ben asked looking at his sister who nodded her head, "Thanks Stef."

"Don't mention it," she said with a soft smile.

"At least let me let you drive it once," he said tossing the keys in her general direction.

"Really?" Stef's face lit up when her brother nodded in agreement. "You're my favorite little brother ever."

"Does your mom have any other kids?" He asked and she shook her head opening the driver's seat door getting in. "Then I'm your _only_ little brother," he said getting in the passenger's seat.

"Which gives you prime reason to be my favorite." She said with a wink starting the ignition.

* * *

><p>Callie was on her A game in the tournament, but her mind still managed to wander to her uncle. He hadn't given her any reason to not trust her, but at the same time he just gave off this weird vibe. Her brothers, sister, and moms were practically infatuated with the man and she couldn't bring herself to be. Randomly out of the blue, her mom finds out that she has a paternal half brother. A man that has wanted to meet her mom since he was five years old. During the half, her coach caught her attention.<p>

"Hey Foster," he said. "Got a minute?"

"Of course," she said. "What's up?"

"Good job bringing your A game today," he said. "The scouts are looking pretty impressed. You'll have the scholarship and first ticket out of San Diego next fall."

Callie smiled, her coach who had been her coach since the little leagues knew her all too well. He knew that she loved her family, but with all the foster children come in and out through years before the younger twins and between them and Jude, that she just wanted a break from her mom and Lena's _'we have to save the word'_ attitudes.

"Thanks Coach," she said. "Got a lot going on, so it's nice to focus on other things right now."

"I'm sorry to hear that things are crazy right now," he said. "But, I am glad that you're focusing out there. Keep up the good work kiddo. And you know Rachel and I are always here for you if you just need a ear to listen and confide in."

"I know Coach Kenney," she said. "Thank you."

He smiled and walked away and she looked out into the stands to see if her family was there, when she knew the other day they'd promise to be there, to support her, she knew Brandon had a last minute gig, but she expected to see her other brothers, sister, and moms in the stands, maybe even this uncle of hers. When she saw that none of them were sitting there her heart sank. She took a swig of water and went back onto the field for the second half of the game. She shouldn't be mad because ever since Ben walked into their lives, it seems as if she's not important enough. They've missed every single game since he swooped in and stole their attention.

When did she become less important to them?

* * *

><p>Lena was sitting at the dining room table looking over some bills when Stef and Ben came through the front door. They were laughing about something or another when Stef came and kissed Lena's cheek as she passed by to get her and Ben a beer. The three settled into a peaceful silence until they heard the door open and slam shut.<p>

All three of them looked at the doorway to see a fuming Callie as she chucked her soccer bag into the living room and tried to calm herself down before looking over at her moms and Ben.

"Hey Slug-a-bug," Lena said, "what's wrong?"

Callie took a deep breath as she looked at the three of them and said, "Did you forget about my game?"

The moms looked wide eyed at each other, inwardly cursing themselves for being so forgetful. Lena ended up having to get Jude through a panic attack, he wasn't officially adopted into the family quite yet, but everybody in the family considered him to be and it just dawned on the boy today that there's still a chance that he wouldn't be adopted. Lena spent the entire afternoon reassuring him that she and Stef loved him unconditionally and even if it took until well after he was 18, he _would_ be an Adams Foster.

Stef on the other hand spent the entire day with Ben, they drove the mustang along the coast, laughing and making memories together. She knew that her oldest daughter, the girl who had half her DNA running inside her, would be mad. So she decided to take another approach. But, Lena being the graceful woman that she is, beat her to it.

"I'm sorry baby," she said. "Jude had an emotional breakdown today and didn't want to do anything, but lie around all day. It slipped my mind."

Callie's eyes softened, "Is he okay?" She asked. She grew fond of the boy when he came into the house. If she had to choose one sibling to protect, it would be Jude.

"He is now," Lena confirmed. "He's upstairs playing video games with Jesus."

Callie nodded, "The both of you were taking care of Jude?" She asked.

Stef took a deep breath, "Well no," she said. "Your Uncle Ben and I took a drive along the coast after we finished cleaning out Grandpa Frank's garage."

"Unbelieveable," Callie muttered under her breath as she attempted to walk out of the room.

"Callie baby," Stef said, "please don't walk away. Let's talk about this."

Callie spun around, "Talk about what?" She yelled. "Talk about how this game was really important to me and all the other seniors on the team and my own family wasn't there to see it?" Stef tried to stop the girl from yelling, but Lena put her hand on the blonde's arm, silently telling her to let Callie get it all out. "I get why Mama wasn't there," she said, "I'm not sure what it will take to make Jude's demons to go away, he's had a rough hand handed to him. But you," she said pointing at Stef, "you were _always_ at my games. And what your paternal half brother comes into the situation and your kids get the back seat?" She said frustratedly.

"You know that's not true, Callie," Stef said.

"Really?" Callie challenged. "When's the last time you've been to a soccer game of mine?" Stef thought about it and maybe for too long because then Callie said, "Jesus' wrestling match? Mariana's dance competition? A gig of Brandon's? You're lucky that Jude hasn't started baseball yet. You're lucky that he still needs Mama to help him fight his demons."

"Callie, enough," Stef said.

"Why? Because the truth hurts? You're so infatuated with this brother of yours that you seem to forget the important stuff around here."

"You're being disrespectful to your uncle," she said noticing that Ben looked a little hurt and out of place.

"My what?" She said not willing to believe it. "Dad's brother is more of an uncle to me and Brandon then this fool is." She said getting more mad.

Ben cleared his throat and excused himself to the kitchen, "Do you have to make him feel anymore uncomfortable?" Stef asked. "Do you think this is easy on him?" Callie tried to speak, but Stef stopped her, "No, don't speak." Stef said. "I'm sorry that I've missed some of your games. But that doesn't give you the right to make your _uncle_ feel uncomfortable. That doesn't give you the right to make anybody feel uncomfortable. Got it?" She said.

The mother-daughter pair were in an intense stare down and Lena broke it, "Callie honey," she said. "Why don't you go take a shower, cool off, and we'll readdress this later, okay?" Callie looked over at Lena and softened her face and nodded her head leaving the room. "She does have somewhat of a point, you know."

"What do you mean?" Stef asked.

"Ever since Ben came into the picture a month ago, you've been focused on him." Lena said, "And that's not a bad thing. It's just _your_ baby girl isn't going to be here in the fall and if we don't play this game right, she won't be on the west coast anymore."

Stef put her head in her hands trying to hold herself together realizing that her wife was right, but also realizing she had to go talk with her brother who was probably very hurt right now.

* * *

><p>Ten minutes later, Stef found her brother sitting on the steps of the back porch slowly drinking a beer. She sat down next to him, looking at the sunset that he was watching.<p>

"Beautiful, huh?" Stef said looking from the sunset to her brother. He nodded, clearly shutting down. "Ben," she said.

"She's right," he managed.

"She maybe right, but she had no right to call you a fool." Stef defended.

"Do you think this is the first time somebody's called me a name, Stef?" Ben asked. "Come on, I was raised by a gay woman and a religious man. I had other, _worse_ names that labeled me. It just never came from family."

"She shouldn't have said that," Stef reiterated.

"She was just expressing how she really feels," he defended the girl. "Maybe I shouldn't hang around here anymore."

Stef's head snapped from the sunset to her brother, "No," she said immediately. "We aren't giving her the upper hand in this."

"Stef," he said, "I'm not going to put you between your family, who _needs_ you and your paternal half brother who just wasting your time."

"You are _not_ wasting my time Ben," she said wrapping her arm around the man, pulling her into her side.

"If you can't manage to go to your kids' extracurriculars-" he started.

"No, none of that," Stef said, kissing the top of his head, "I'll work this out, but you are not going _anywhere._" He nodded knowing that no matter what he would say right in that moment, she would shoot him down.

He had his own demons to work through and maybe his older sister and her family could help him through it.

* * *

><p><strong>AN 2:** So I know it's probably early in the story for Callie to be getting mad, but I'm setting this blow up for the next couple of chapters while we are getting to know Ben and this AU Adams Foster family.

Flashbacks are a coming!


	5. The Road To The Future

**A/N:** Thank you for sticking around it means the world to me!

I'm sorry I meant to get this up yesterday, but I'm two classes away from film school and this one class took away my time. Stupid Pre-Algebra...

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Five: The Road To The Future<strong>

Callie laid her head pretty low in the following week of blowing up at Stef. It didn't go unnoticed by either one of the moms. They figured they'd let it draw out a couple of days. But as the week went on, Callie still said nothing, did as she was asked, did homework, eat with the family silently, and slept a lot more than she usually does during soccer season. By Friday, both Stef and Lena were pretty worried about the girl.

Ben also laid his head pretty low. He and Stef still did lunch together, but when Friday rolled around, he made some excuse of having to work that weekend so he probably wouldn't be able to hang out with the Adams Foster family that weekend.

When Stef woke up on that Saturday spooning Lena from behind. She placed a gentle kiss on the darker woman's shoulder and whispered, "Good morning beautiful," making Lena blush and whisper her good morning back.

"What are you going to do today since Ben's working?" Lena asked turning in her lover's arms to make better eye contact.

"I don't know," she said. "Callie has a game today doesn't she?"

"I think so," Lena said, brushing Stef's hair out of her face, "Playing a little clean up with your daughter?" Lena joked with a wink. But, when Stef didn't joke back with her, she knew the answer, "Honey..."

"She was right, Lena." Stef said with a sigh. "She didn't tell it in a proper way, but she was right."

"All the other kids understand," Lena assured. "Especially the younger twins and Jude."

"But," Stef sighed frustratedly. "I don't want any of our kids to feel like they aren't important to me."

"Our kids are some of the most understanding people I know," Lena said. "Callie is just trying to figure everything out. Y'know? She's graduating in two months and from what we know, no school has picked her up yet on a scholarship. She's stressing out about her future and then to add to it, she has this uncle that comes in and swoops her mom's attention away when she needs it the most."

Stef sighed and buried her face into Lena's shoulder, "We should've eased Ben into their lives."

"_We_?" Lena asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Come on, Lena," Stef said looking into dark brown eyes, "you know once I met him, there was no way you'd want to wait to meet him."

Lena chuckled and leaned forward to kiss her wife, "I do know this." She said. "I also know that it's 6:30am on a Saturday morning and the kids are still asleep," she said suggestively.

"Yeah?" Stef said suggestively back kissing her deeply.

* * *

><p>Meal time was always chaotic in the Adams Foster household, this particular Saturday morning was no different. Food being passed around, the younger twins bickering, Jude trying to stay out of the way, Brandon trying to dodge Jesus' ketchup, and Callie being extremely quiet.<p>

"So Callie," Stef said, "do you have a game today?"

The teenager nodded, "Yeah, it's a home game." She answered softly.

"Well, I don't know about Mama, but your dad and I will be there." Stef said.

"Uhh, you don't have to," Callie said finishing her breakfast and starting her protein shake, "I understand if you can't."

"Oh baby girl," Stef said looking softly at her oldest daughter.

"I, uh, gotta go." She said taking her protein drink and grabbed her keys.

"Wait baby," Stef said following after her daughter, "what time does the game start?"

"Uhh, 11:30," she answered. "Like I said, if you can't come-"

"Callie," Stef said, "can you talk to me?"

"Mom, I can't right now." Callie said. "I know what I said to Ben last weekend was uncalled for, but right now, I can't deal with that."

"I love you," Stef said kissing the girl's forehead.

"I know," Callie said as she walked out of the house.

Stef sighed and looked at the closed door, Lena came from behind her and wrapped the police officer in her embrace.

"Give her time babe," Lena whispered in Stef's ear, gently kissing it. "Remember when you first introduced me to the older twins as your girlfriend and Brandon warmed up to me immediately where it took Callie close to six months to finally do so?"

"Oh god," Stef said remembering the moment.

_Flashback._

Stef and Lena had been dating for a couple of months now and Stef was ready to introduce Lena to Brandon and Callie. She had sat them down and explained how Mommy was in love with another woman and how that other woman also was their assistant vice principal.

Lena knocked on the door of the small three bedroom house and Stef answered it. From the look of her still in her uniform and the frustrated look on her face, she could tell she had a rough afternoon. Lena, who never had seen Stef in her uniform before, took in the appearance.

"Y'know, I may not be fond of your choice of work," Lena said taking Stef's hands in hers, "But what woman isn't attracted to somebody in uniform?"

Stef sighed, "I was trying to change, but between Brandon and Callie, it was a little more difficult." She said.

"It's fine babe," Lena said leaning forward to kiss her girlfriend, "Introduce me to the kids and then go change. And maybe when you put the kids down, I can massage these tense shoulders of yours."

"Yeah?" Stef said looking lovingly into the woman's eyes.

Lena nodded, "Yeah," she said with a smile. "But, I got to meet these kids first. I've seen them play on the playground, but I haven't actually met them yet."

Stef grabbed her girlfriend's hand and led her into the living room and called for her kids, "B, Callie, could you come down here please?"

"Coming Mommy," two voices were heard and two sets of feet were heard running down the hall.

Two five year old kids came bouncing out, Brandon continued to bounce even when he saw Lena while Callie slowed down her bounce to a slow stride when she saw the curly haired woman.

"Alright babies," Stef said. "This is Lena," Stef said.

"I thought she was Assistant Vice Principal Adams?" Callie said cautiously.

"Around here you can call me Lena," the curly haired woman said.

"Okay," Callie said taking a seat in Stef's lap.

Stef kissed the top of Callie's head, "I'm going to go change out of my uniform, okay baby girl?" She said after a few minutes. "You stay here with B and Lena."

Callie nodded her head and looked back to her brother and her mom's girlfriend. Brandon was going off about how much he loved Anchor Beach and how his teacher took him and his class out onto the beach earlier that day.

Brandon and Callie had different kindergarten teachers in a way to sort of help the two grow into individuals upon the enrollment of the two young Foster twins, Lena had made a mention to Stef how that'd be a good idea.

"That's sounds really cool Brandon," Lena said after he went into a story how he and his friend Aiden made a sandcastle. "Did you do anything fun today Callie?" The young girl shook her head. "Your class didn't go to the beach today?" She shook her head again.

A few minutes later, Stef came back into the room, "Mommy," Brandon said, "I'm hungry."

"Pizza's on the way my love." She said sitting next to Lena as Callie climbed in her mother's lap. "Hi baby girl." She said as Callie buried herself into Stef's lap.

"Is she always this shy?" Lena asked, whispering.

"Not usually," Stef answered, "she may just need time to warm up to you. You're new."

Lena nodded, "I just want them to feel comfortable around me," she whispered back.

Stef wrapped a loving arm around Lena, softly kissing her temple, "They will."

_End Flashback._

"It took Callie six months to warm up to me," Lena reminded her wife taking her out of the memory, "and that's only because she broke her arm during soccer practice and I was the only one there to take her to the ER."

"I hope it doesn't take broken bones to get her to like Ben." Stef said. "I know he ditched us this weekend because of what Callie said."

"This is new to him too," Lena reminded placing her chin on Stef's shoulder. "And probably awkward. Give him time, babe."

"I'm lucky you choose _me_ every single day," Stef said sincerely.

"I'd like to think of it the other way around," Lena said. "I love you."

"I love you too," Stef said kissing her wife softly.

* * *

><p>Stef was sitting between Lena and Mike at Callie's soccer game when her phone buzzed with a text message. She was surprised to see Ben's name pop up on her screen.<p>

_**Ben:** Just got a call from the realtor, Dad's house is in escrow._

"A text message really?" Stef mumbled. "You couldn't have called?" She asked herself.

"What's wrong sweetheart?" Lena asked grabbing Stef's free hand.

"Oh uh Ben just text me saying that our dad's house is in escrow." She answered her wife.

"Who is this Ben guy?" Mike asked. "B has mentioned him a little, but I never asked who he was."

"My dad had another kid with another woman and we just recently found out about him." Stef answered.

"So you just bring him into your lives without running it passed me first?" Mike asked.

"I didn't think I needed to," Stef said, "Considering you brought Dani into their lives without running it passed me," she added raising an eyebrow.

Mike grumbled in his seat looking back to the game as Callie kicked the ball into the goal. As the entire Anchor Beach fan base cheered Lena casually changing the subject by saying, "There are scouts here."

"What?" Both Stef and Mike whipped their head at Lena. "How do you know?"

"Look," she said pointing down farther into the stands to people with clipboards, feverishly taking notes, "and even if I didn't look down there, I knew. Coach Kenney came into my office yesterday to tell me that Callie has a good chance in getting scouted today for a full ride scholarship."

Stef and Mike looked at each other, they already knew Brandon and Someone's Little Sister was going to be getting into the studio in the beginning of summer, with Lou's connections and start touring, but they knew that Callie wanted to go to school and get a degree and that costs money. They had agreed upon the divorce that they would split college tuition and textbooks down the line if they needed to. But if Callie gets a scholarship today, they would be happy and proud.

She then text her brother back wishing she could share this moment with him as well.

_**Stef:** Good to hear! Miss you though. Wish you were here with us cheering Callie on._

* * *

><p>After the game, Stef, Lena, and Mike along with all the other kids were waiting around for Callie. Anchor Beach had won the game and Callie made the game-winning goal. Stef saw that Callie was standing with her coach and one of the college scouts talking. She just couldn't understand about what and where the scout was from.<p>

Coach Kenney gestured for the three parents to come on over and as they did they heard the coach say, "Look we know Penn State is number eight in the NCAA when it comes to women's soccer, but we really hope you consider us."

Both Stef and Mike's eyes went wide while Lena tried to hide her surprise as the coach said, "Uh, Ricky this is her parents, Mike, Stef, and Lena." He said introducing the trio. "Lena is our principal here at Anchor Beach too."

"Oh wow," the man said, "it's a pleasure." He said to the three adults. "Your daughter's soccer footage was sent to me. I, myself, am an alum here at Anchor Beach."

"Ricky Todd, yes?" Lena asked. "Class of," she thought about it for a moment, "2000?"

"That's me," he said, "glad to see you're still impacting students lives here, Principal Adams."

"It's actually Principal Adams Foster," she said grabbing Stef's arm lovingly. "But you can call me Lena now." She offered a warm smile to the man.

"Alright," he said, "anyway I was telling your daughter here that Penn State is seriously interested in her. We know you as parents will have concerns as it's on the east coast, but if she does choose us, we promise to take care of her."

"Full ride?" Mike asked for him and his ex wife.

Ricky nodded, "Full ride," he repeated.

Callie looked over at her mother, who had a worried look on her face and a lip between her teeth, "Mom," she said. "It's either this or community college and it'll take me longer to get to the pros that way."

Stef looked between her wife and ex husband, who both nodded their heads, and then she looked over at Ricky, "You promise to take care of our baby girl?"

Ricky nodded again, "We do promise to do anything to protect her. We at Penn State, especially in the athletic program, treat each other like family."

Stef looked over at Callie, "We're flying you home for every major holiday, including Thanksgiving and every summer. Got it?"

"Wouldn't expect anything different," Callie said.

Stef sniffed a little turning to Ricky, "Do we need to sign anywhere?" She asked watching her daughter's face light up.

"If you all could follow me." Ricky said.

* * *

><p>"Penn State?" Brandon all, but yelled when they got home. "Are you kidding me?"<p>

"Brandon," Callie tried.

"I know they've been preparing this all along," he said, "putting us in the same classes at different times. We've never shared a teacher since starting school, but now you're going to be on a different coast now."

"This is my chance to shine, B." Callie said.

"UCLA is number one in NCAA for women's soccer," he argued, "and you couldn't have chosen them?"

"They didn't offer me a full ride scholarship." She said.

"What about everything we planned?" Brandon said. "Remember? The day I realized that Mom and Dad were never getting back together."

Callie swallowed and nodded, it was the day before their ninth birthday, two weeks before Stef and Lena were going to officially adopt the younger twins.

_Flashback._

Brandon and Callie were lying in the backyard looking up at the stars after dinner. Callie could tell something was bothering Brandon.

"Hey Callie?" He finally said.

"Yeah, Brandon?" She said.

"Mom and Dad, they aren't-they aren't getting back together are they?"

Callie sighed and reached out for his hand, "No, they aren't." She said. "Lena's been in our lives for four years now."

"I just wish it would've hit me sooner," Brandon said tears filling his eyes.

Callie looked over at her brother, "Hey," she said, "it's okay."

"We'll never be a family of four again," he said. "You, me, Mom, and Dad. As much as I love Lena and Jesus and Mariana, I miss it."

Callie nodded, "I do too." She admitted. "But, Mom loves Lena now and Lena's a good mama, don't you agree?"

Brandon nodded, "I do agree, I like her cuddles." He said.

"Yeah, me too." Callie said. The two fell into a peaceful silence for a moment, "Have you ever thought about going to the moon?" Callie asked randomly.

"Yeah," Brandon said, "sometimes I imagine myself going there just to get away from it all."

"When we get older, we should do something like that together." Callie said.

Brandon sat up a little and looked at his twin, "Go to the moon?" He asked confused.

"Yeah, maybe not that, but like jump out of an airplane, hike a mountain, do something spontaneous." She said.

"We should do that after high school before college," Brandon said thinking into the future.

"Yeah, let's do it." Callie said.

_End Flashback._

"We can still do all of that stuff," Callie said trying to reassure her twin.

"We can't," Brandon yelled, at the moment glad that the rest of the family went to go pick up a pizza, and they were alone. "Did it occur to you that we graduate in mid-June and from what I hear you're headed out for athletic move-in and soccer conditioning in early to mid-July?" He said. "We don't turn 18 until the end of July, we can't do that with out Mom, Dad, or Lena chaperoning us."

"You act like I'm moving to Penn State and am going to die there," Callie said looking at her twin. "Mom and Dad are flying me back for every holiday and every summer."

"Well the way you've been acting ever since Uncle Ben came into the picture makes me believe that you aren't too fond of that idea." Brandon argued.

"Uncle what? Brandon," Callie said. "I thought we agreed that we were going to wait awhile before we let him in fully."

"He's our uncle whether or not, you like that." Brandon said.

"He's our _half_ uncle." Callie clarified.

"Half- really Callie?" Brandon said, "When Mama gets home do you want me to have her go into her lecture about how DNA _doesn't _make a family, _love_ does."

"I have my right to be skeptical about a man that has only been in our lives for all of 2.5 seconds. A man that we don't know if he's just going to build up this relationship with Mom and just leave her and everybody else in this family high and dry." Callie defended herself.

"Uncle Ben isn't that kind of guy," Brandon said, "if you would spend more than every two seconds judging him because he just came into our lives, maybe you'd get to know him. What's gotten into you Callie? Even Aiden has been saying that you've been acting weird. This _isn't_ about Uncle Ben."

"Would you stop calling him that?" Callie asked.

"No," he said, "because it doesn't change the fact that, that's who he is. _Our_ uncle. But, don't change the subject," he said, "what's gotten into you?"

"Nothing okay," she said, "just leave it alone." She added while walking out of the room.

Rarely ever did these two twins argue because after the divorce of Mike and Stef they silently vowed to always have each other's backs, but when they argued, there came a tension in the house that nobody could avoid.

* * *

><p><strong>AN 2:** I wanted this chapter to be a little Callie-centric, so I'm sorry for the lack thereof appearances of Ben. The next chapter is Ben-Stef-and even a little Lena-centric. Then it'll be everyone as a whole. Hope you guys liked it.

What do you think is going on with Callie? Why do you think she really isn't warming up to Ben?

And how'd you like those flashbacks? I know they were short and probably a little lame, but I'm curious to see what you all think.

What would you like to see more of?

Let me know! Always up for some suggestions! :)


	6. The Road To Inner Demons

**A/N:** Thank you for the continued support! Seriously. I appreciate all of you.

**Trigger warning: **Talk about statutory rape is in here. I apologize in advance if it triggers you.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Six: The Road To Inner Demons<strong>

Ben felt a little bad for blowing off his sister over the weekend, but he just needed his space. He did work all weekend and when Monday early afternoon rolled around, Stef came back into his office for lunch.

"Hey kiddo," Stef said while walking in with lunch as she watched Ben type away on his computer.

"Hey Stef," he said glancing up at his sister, "what did Lena send you with this time?"

"A pasta dish and her heartfelt I miss you," she said taking his tupperware out of the lunch cooler.

"You can bring her with you to these lunches, y'know." He said opening the tupperware.

"She feels like this is our time to well, bond." Stef said. "We all missed you this weekend."

Ben took a bite of the pasta and looked back at his sister with an eyebrow raised, "Even Callie?" He asked curiously.

"Okay, the rest of the kids, Lena, and I missed you." Stef said with a sigh as she watched her brother's eyes travel back to the iMac in front of him, "Nuh uh," she said looking at him, "you know the rules, no working during our lunch."

"Sorry," he said. "Something just popped up on my screen."

"You have an desktop and a Macbook in front of you. Why do you need two computers?"

"It's easier to follow news that way," he said. "And it's easier to program stuff that way too."

"Did you get a degree in journalism or programing?" Stef asked.

"Journalism, but taught myself how to program for the sake of this company." He said.

"Wow," she said taking a bite of her lunch, "invested."

Ben chuckled, "You could say that." He said. "How was your weekend?" He asked handing his sister a Coke out of his mini fridge.

"Good," she said. "Callie got a scholarship to Penn State."

"Wow, really?" He asked, "That's cool. How are you and your ex taking it?"

"What do you mean?" Stef asked.

"Come on your baby girl? His _only_ daughter?" Ben said, "When I left for SDSU when I was 15, my mom freaked out a little. Luckily, Dad was always close by, but that didn't stop her from worrying."

Stef chuckled, "I'm worried, but I know my baby girl will be just fine. She's a fighter."

"She seems like it," he said. "From what she lets me see."

"I don't know what's going on with her," Stef said. "And I wish I did," she added.

"I don't expect everybody I meet to like me Stef," he said. "But, it doesn't mean that I wish that Callie did. She seems like a cool kid."

"She _is,_" Stef agreed with her brother, "not sure what's going on with that girl."

"I told you if I need to step away, I will." He said eating his lunch.

"And _I_ told you that wasn't necessary." Stef said. "But, seems that _somebody_, doesn't listen to his supposed favorite big sister." She chastised teasingly.

"What do you mean?" Ben asked confused.

"You ditched us the week end for work," she said putting air quotation marks around work.

"I did work," he said.

"You could've worked from our house." Stef said. "In front of the Padres handing it back to the Dodgers," she added with a wink.

"I wouldn't have been able to concentrate," he said. "Besides, Callie probably wouldn't have wanted me to celebrate her getting a scholarship with you guys."

"How'd you know we celebrated?" Stef asked with a raising eyebrow.

"You're the same family that invited me over to celebrate Jude getting an A on his math test." He said. "I think it's sweet that you both celebrate small and big accomplishments. I wish my mom and our dad had."

"They didn't?" Stef asked.

"No, my mom used to, but then they adopted Leo and by the time he got to us, he was so broke, that they spent up until Leah was placed with us having to reassure him that he was worth a hell of a lot more than any other foster parent told him. They cycle then came back around with Leah two years ago. Neither one of them felt special until they were officially a Wright-Carlson. And they both still have their moments where they just don't feel like they belong."

"Is that why you wanted to get out of LA part-time?" Stef asked.

"Kind of," he said. "But mainly because I wanted to get closer to Dad."

Stef nodded, "Did you?" She asked, "Get closer to Dad?"

He shook his head, "It was kind of hard to," he said. "He wanted me to go into law enforcement and despite me wanting to spend four years in college and then enlisting in the military, I can't see myself being a cop."

"Everybody has their calling," Stef said.

"I miss him," Ben said. "Dad." He clarified.

Stef nodded her head in agreement, "I miss him too." She agreed. "Even though we never really got along, I miss having him around." She fondly smiled, "I missed having you around this weekend."

He looked up from his lunch and said, "I do have a reason, I promise." He said with tears developing in his eyes.

* * *

><p>Ben was staring out his office window later that afternoon when he heard a knock on the door.<p>

"Mr. Carlson," his assistant Sarah pulled him out of his gaze.

"Every time you call me that I look over my shoulder to see if my grandpa or uncle is here." He said, "Please call me Ben."

"Sorry, Ben?" She amended.

"Yes?" He said sitting back in his chair.

"You have a Lena Adams Foster wanting to see you." She said.

He chuckled, "Let her in," he said as he saw the curly haired woman waiting out for him, "Lena," he said. "It's a pleasure."

"Stef said to just crash your office." Lena said sheepishly.

"You're always welcome to crash," he said. "Even with Stef." He added.

"That's your guys' time," she said. "I wouldn't want to crash that."

"Well, I'm glad you're crashing now," he said offering a warm smile. "But, what do I owe for this surprise visit?"

"I just want to make sure you're okay for myself," she said. "We missed you over the weekend."

"Yeah had to really concentrate on work," he said.

"Are you sure about that?" Lena asked.

He sighed, he did purposely bail on them because of what Callie had said, the words kept running through his head, and his inner demons convinced him to stay away. And somehow he managed to convince Stef of that, but he could tell that Lena wasn't convinced.

"Of course," he said. "What makes you think I didn't?"

"What Callie said had to of hurt." She said. "Poured some salt on some open wounds?"

"Lena-" Ben tried.

"How do I know that?" She asked his question for him. "Because if you forgot, I was the one that helped you through a nightmare that night, remember?"

"Yeah," he said. "You probably treated me like one of your own children that night." He remembered.

Lena had gone down because she felt the need to check on him after everything he heard Callie say because he was really quiet for the rest of the night after he and Stef came in and she could see that he had some inner demons that he had yet to work through. She helped him through a post-nightmare panic attack and held him until the man fell asleep peacefully.

"Stef and I promised your moms that we'd take care of you," she said. "And when I saw you in that state my maternal instincts kicked in."

Ben chucked, "It's really fine Lena," he assured. "I appreciate it. Most of the time, I don't have people to talk me through my post-nightmare panic attacks. So if I haven't said it already, thank you."

"Whatever and whenever you need something, Stef and I will be there." Lena assured. "Although, you might want to get some professional help if this is a reoccuring thing."

Ben stood up and looked out his window, he had never told anybody about his past and he didn't really want to, but he could tell that Stef and Lena were trusting people.

"Stef and my dad had a lot of double standards in his religon," he said still looking out the window, "It wasn't right for Stef and my mom to be gay, but it was okay for him to have unwedded sex."

Lena's eyes widened not knowing where this was going, "Ben, you don't have to-" She tried before he interrupted her.

"No, it's okay," he said looking at her, "I trust you. And Stef already knows about this."

Lena smiled and nodded, "Okay," she nodded.

"One night during my undergrad, I came home, well to my San Diego home at the time," he said with a fond smile. "I was tired of overpriced, poor quality cafeteria food and I wanted some guy time and a more comfortable bed."

He swallowed as he continued, "I didn't mind that his girlfriend at the time wanted to hang out with us, I mean I get what it's like to be lonely. If I weren't so busy all the time, maybe I'd figure out what everybody is talking about when it comes to love."

Lena smiled because she knew what he was talking about. The love that she found in Stef dumbfounded her when she thought about it, but when she thought about what her brother-in-law was saying, her heart began to break, she didn't know what she was thinking was true, but if it was true, she could imagine what Stef was feeling.

"So, this woman, I think her name was like Lilliana or something or another, I don't remember because I'm horrible with names," he said rubbing her forehead. "She got pretty wasted that night with Dad and he got pretty buzzed too. That was another double standard in his faith," he said tears developing in his eyes.

He took a deep breath, collecting himself, "I went to bed pretty early that night, I had a Calculus exam early that next morning," he said. "I was sleep dreaming about Caculus," he laughed pitifully at the memory, "I was super stressed out about it. And then I woke up to this woman on top of me trying to undo my pajama pants. I tried to stop her, but when I was sixteen I wasn't the strongest of teenagers and she forced me down and-"

Tears were rolling down both Ben and Lena's face, "She uh forced me to have sex with her. And Dad who normally was one of the heaviest sleepers I know, walked in seeing my struggle and kicked her out luckily. Got her arrested and a restraining order."

He took a deep breath and looked at Lena, "It happened so fast, y'know? I had just met her all of six hours before. And I felt foolish and less of a man that I couldn't fight her off. So when Callie called me a fool, it triggered something inside me."

"I had no idea," Lena said, "Stef never told me."

"I uh just told her at lunch," he said. "So she's probably trying to process it all."

"She's probably angry too," she said, knowing her wife.

He nodded, "I didn't want to send her back to the force angry, but I had to tell her. I had to be honest with her." He said.

"Well, thank you for being honest with me. That was really brave," Lena said, "I appreciate it."

"Thank you for holding me that night," he said. "I appreciate that."

"We're always here for you, honey." She said. "And we'll talk to Callie, we won't give her full details, but we will talk to her. See what's going on in her head." He nodded, "Can I give you a hug?"

"Yeah, of course." He said as Lena hugged him.

"Everything will work out and we'll be with you every step of the way." She said into his broad chest.

* * *

><p>That night, Stef and Lena were sitting in bed cuddling and talking.<p>

"So I went to go see Ben today after work," Lena said, snuggling further into Stef and the police officer played with the end of one of her curls.

"Mhm?" Stef acknowledged, remembering her own visit.

"He told me, about your guys' dad's girlfriend." Lena said softly. "And what she did to him."

"Yeah, poor kid." Stef said remembering her heart break and anger. "I feel like that's not the only time that he's been handed it rough."

"We need to talk to Callie," Lena said. "Something triggered inside him when she called him a fool."

Stef sighed, "I know baby," she said. "I just don't know how to approach her now," she admitted. "How awful is that?" She asked. "I can't even approach my own daughter without the fear of being rejected or something."

"It's not awful babe," Lena assured. "She's a stressed out high school senior who just needs a little attitude check."

"This is why I'm hesitent in her going to Penn State," Stef said. "What if she needs us?"

"There's always video chat," Lena assured. "Besides we knew she wasn't going to stay in San Diego if she had the opportunity to move out."

Stef groaned, "Don't remind me," she said. "I wish should could've stayed my baby girl forever."

"It'll be good for her," Lena said, "to grow and stuff."

"Yeah," Stef said as they fell into a somewhat peaceful silence. Both thinking about Callie and then their minds drifted to Ben. "I can't believe that he had to go through that," Stef said. "At sixteen?" Stef rhetorically asked. "The younger twins are about to turn that age. I just," she shuttered. "I wish there was a way to help him."

"We can be just by being there," Lena assured. "He needs us."

"Yeah, that he does." Stef said.

* * *

><p>Callie walked into Lena's office at lunch the next day and saw both of her moms sitting there.<p>

"Hey baby girl," Stef greeted first. "How was your morning?"

"Uh okay, I guess," Callie said. "The usual English, math, and US history." She added. "Shouldn't you be with Ben?" She asked her mom.

"Your uncle had a board meeting during lunch today," Stef said. "So I thought I'd spend it with two out of three of my favorite girl's in the world."

"Oh," Callie said inwardly cringing at the fact that Stef had just referred to Ben as her uncle.

"We need to talk to you about something." Lena said.

"What's up?" Callie asked sitting across from her moms.

"What's your deal against your Uncle Ben?" Stef asked.

"Not this again," Callie said standing up putting her backpack over her shoulder in attempt to leave.

"Nuh uh," Stef said, "sit back down and answer my question."

"That what you randomly have this brother come into your life and you expect us all to be on board with it?" Callie asked her mother in disbelief. "Mom, how stupid do you think I am?"

"I don't think you're stupid at all," Stef said, "I do think you're being a little disrespectful to a man who _is_ your uncle."

"I have my right to be skeptical about a man that has only been in our lives for all of 2.5 seconds. A man that we don't know if he's just going to build up this relationship with you and just leave you and everybody else in this family high and dry." Callie defended herself, repeating what she told Brandon several days before.

"Do you really think he's that kind of man?" Stef asked, incredulously. "Do you think he's going to leave this family high and dry after things get comfortable?"

"I don't know," Callie said, "Hence why I'm not warming up to him."

"Are you expecting him to prove something to you?" Stef asked. "Because your uncle has nothing to prove to you."

"I'm not willing to put myself in a position to get hurt," Callie said loud enough to make a point, "I'm not going to watch another person come in our lives just to walk away. Grandpa Frank did it, every single foster kid before Jesus and Mariana and between them and Jude did, and Dad did too."

The couple looked from Callie to each other, "Callie honey," Lena said. "What does that mean?"

"I always told Brandon not to get attached to anybody," she said. "After watching Grandpa Frank walk away from us when he met you," Callie said to Lena, "and watching our dad try to make up for years of being an alcoholic, we almost lost the twins to Ana and we might lose Jude to Donald. I'm not letting some guy that just walks into our lives and says he's your brother tear this family apart."

It then dawned on Stef that Brandon and Callie may have had it good. They had three parents who loved them unconditionally, a roof over their head, plenty of food on the table, and clean clothes on their back, but it never occurred to Stef that they might have been effected by the divorce. Sure, it was over ten years ago. Sure, they loved Lena just like another mother. But, Brandon and Callie Foster have hurt inside of them that never has been dealt with.

"Baby," Stef said with tears in her eyes.

"Brandon and I, yeah, we have it good. We've never known what it's like to go hungry, cold, or unloved. But, it doesn't mean that we've never been _emotionally_ hurt." Callie swallowed before continuing, "You may have restored hope in humanity back into Jesus, Mariana, and Jude. Maybe Brandon never lost it, but he's a big part of our lives now and makes me scared that he'll just up and leave when he wants. There are some days, when your two arguments get bad," she gestured between the couple, "that I still think Lena will too."

Lena took a deep breath, "We're married now baby, I'm not going to just up and leave." She assured.

"Our dad did," Callie said. "And they were married for six years."

"I didn't know the divorce was still affecting you baby girl," Stef said.

"I never dealt with it," she said. "It made me realize that if I did that it would be official. That he's only partly in our lives. I've got little demons inside of me," she admitted. "I deal with them on my own because I realize that they aren't as big as Jesus, Mariana, and Jude's."

Both Stef and Lena jump out of their seats and sandwiched the girl between them, "You don't have to go through anything alone baby girl," Stef said in her ear, kissing it ever so gently. "Uncle Ben isn't going to leave us." She said. "Not now, not a month from now, not ever."

Callie silently cried into Stef's uniform as both the women held her. Maybe it was a long haul, but this was a start. It made both Stef and Lena realize that no matter how _good_ you have it, everybody still has little to big demons inside of them.

* * *

><p>Several days later, on the Friday, Ben was sitting on the back porch of his house when the doorbell rang. He wasn't expecting any company, especially at 6:30 in the morning, but he stood up and went to the door.<p>

When he answered it, he didn't expect to see what he saw, Callie standing there in a soccer pants, Adidas shoes, a Anchor Beach soccer sweatshirt, with her lip between her teeth.

"Hey Callie," he said. "What's up?"

"May I talk to you?" She asked politely.

"Sure, does your moms know you're here?" He asked letting her in.

"Uh yeah," she said. "They actually suggested it." She added remembering the long talk they had the night after Callie's confession of being afraid of being hurt.

"Can I get you something to drink?" He then asked. "Water? Orange juice?"

"Orange juice would be nice." She said as he poured her a glass.

The two made it out to the back porch and sat across from each other and stared at each other for a moment, "Whenever you're ready." He said prompting her to start.

"I'm sorry," she said. "For calling you a fool. For making you feel unwanted in our home."

"It's really okay, kid." He said. "May I ask why though?"

Callie took a deep breath, "When Brandon and I were four, our parents split up, but we didn't know it. Our mom said that our dad had a night shift and he was always there for breakfast in the morning. And then Lena came into the picture and our mom said that she and our dad were getting a divorce. Our dad checked out for awhile to get his head around everything."

Ben looked at his niece and saw that she was struggling a little he smiled and gave her a nod of encouragement, "He ended up being an alcoholic and having to do a lot of damage control when he made a vow to be sober." She softly smiled. "But, it didn't make up for those times where I needed my daddy and he wasn't there."

Callie took a deep breath, "Grandpa Frank sort of left our lives after my mom and Lena got together. You know that," she said and he nodded. "We were just getting into the swing of things again when you came into the picture. And I put my guards up because I didn't want to get hurt again."

Callie took a sip of orange juice, "Y'see everybody sees me and Brandon like we're two privileged, middle class kids from Mission Bay who have their lives figured out. Like our worlds are full of butterflies and rainbows and everything works out. But, that's not the case. Not everything works out."

She looked at Ben straight in the eyes and said, "I'm not going to promise you that things between you and I are going to be perfect. But, I will promise from here on out, I'll try to let you in."

Ben swallowed, "We all have our inner demons. Some bigger than others," he said. "I don't expect you to love me right away. I shouldn't expect you to like me, but I do want to get to know you before you go off to Penn State." He added with a smile. "Congratulations on that, by the way."

"Thanks." She said with a small smile.

"It seems that you and I have a lot to work out," Ben said. "But, this right here, right now is a start."

Callie nodded, "So does that mean you'll be cheering Anchor Beach on tomorrow at the California State Girl's Soccer Championship?" She asked.

"Is this you inviting me?" He asked. Callie nodded, "Then yeah, I'll be there."

* * *

><p><strong>AN 2:** True story, what Callie just went through in this chapter is the same situation I went through right after graduating from high school. Glad I finally could write it out.

The whole Adams Foster fam in the next chapter! :)


	7. The Road To Forever Family

**A/N: **Thanks for sticking with me! :)

Y'know how I said that this in an AU, yeah... introducing another original character in this chapter that will be Lena's full-blooded biological sister that Ben may or may not have a history with.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Seven: The Road To Forever Family<strong>

Things settled down after Callie and Ben's talk. He had come over that even at Stef's practical demand. He spent the weekend with them, watch Callie and Anchor Beach win the state championship, and even managed to meet Mike.

He was currently sitting at a Friday night dinner with the Adams Foster family when something occurred to Mariana, "Are you seeing anyone?" She asked Ben.

The question made everybody almost spit out what they were eating or drinking when Ben came back with, "I'm your uncle and like nine years older than you and not your type."

"You really are related to Mom," Callie said from across from him referring to his dry humor.

"This means we have Dad's humor," Ben said to Stef.

Stef cringed, "I resent that," she said. "I do not have Dad's humor."

"You kind of do Mom," both Brandon and Callie said in unison earning a glare from the blonde cop.

"Okay," Mariana said, "I didn't mean for it to escalate to this, but my question is still on the table."

"No," Ben answered his niece's question. "I barely can take care of myself. If you add somebody else to the equation, it'll just end bad."

"You know who he sounds like," Stef asked Lena.

"Who?" Lena asked looking skeptically to her wife.

"Emily," Stef said simply making her wife and kids once again almost spit out their food.

"Emily?" Jesus asked. "As in Aunt Emily?"

"As in Mama's sister?" Brandon clarified even more.

"Yeah," Stef said. "Think about it," she continued. "They're both busy with careers to settle down, both single, they're both a little nerdy-"

"Hey, I resent that, I am _not_ nerdy." Ben interrupted.

"Both deny to their respective sister that they aren't a little nerdy." She said side-eyeing the man, "both own their own business. Both graduated high school at 15. It's like our siblings are the gender opposite of each other."

Lena's eyes went wide, "Oh my goodness, they are." She agreed with her wife. "Scary similar."

"What does your sister do?" Ben asked Lena curiously.

"She got a law degree from Stanford, she primarily works with businesses here in San Diego." She said. "I haven't talked with her in awhile. I probably should." She said thinking out loud.

"Wait," Ben said looking up from his plate, "what's your last name again?"

"Adams Foster," Stef quipped earning a glare from her little brother.

"My maiden last name is just Adams," Lena said looking amused at the sister-brother duo.

"Emily Adams?" Ben said. "Like of Fisher and Adams Business Law Group?" He asked.

"Yeah," Lena said, smiling fondly of her sister.

"She's my company's lawyer." He said. "Small world."

"Now I know why _The Opinionated Buzz_ sounded familiar," Lena said. "Weren't you the same company that the LA Times had a huge law suit against because somebody plagiarized one of their journalists work?"

"Yeah," he chuckled. "We ended up having to fire that reporter. That's what I don't like about my job is that I have the power of my employee's future in my hands."

"I'd think that'd be a good part of being the boss," Jesus said.

"I think of the whole picture with my employees," Ben said. "I always think, does this person have a spouse and kids? Does this employee have people counting on them like they're counting on me?"

"Are you sure you're Dad's son?" Stef asked jokingly.

"I have some qualities like my mom." He said, "But anyway, yeah, Emily is always great to work with. I've never met somebody so in love with business law, I'll admit. I was kind of taken back when I met her. She has such a stong presnece that I've never seen for somebody our age. She's so confident in what she does."

"She wanted to get off the educator path that our parents and I were on. She wanted to be her own person."

"But, your parents made her feel like what she was doing wasn't good enough," he continued for her. "I know that," he said.

"Dad made feel that way?" Stef asked.

The man nodded, "A little and then my moms didn't make it feel any better when I told them my major sophomore year."

"What exactly was your major?" Jude asked his uncle.

"The exact name of the program I went through was Mass Communications and Journalism." He answered. "Emily and I actually had a conversation about that as she got a text from your mom one time when we were working on that case."

"Yeah," Lena said, "my mom could be overbearing sometimes."

"Sometimes?" Stef asked her wife with a raised eyebrow.

"Most of the time," she said thinking about her mother. A beat of silence, "Y'know, we can always set up a time for you to see Emily outside of a professional setting if you want. Maybe you could finally come to terms with that blush on your face when we talk about her in the future." Lena added with a wink.

Ben spit out some of the beer he was drinking, "Totally not necessary." He said. "You don't have to do that." He added feeling slightly embarrassed. "How about we change the subject?" He then asked.

"Yeah, for now," Stef said. "Lena and I will be bringing this up again."

"Oh Moms," Jude said taking the light off of his uncle's embarrassment, "did you invite Uncle Ben to Monday?"

Stef and Lena smiled at each other, "Not yet," Lena said looking over at their youngest child.

"What's Monday?" Ben asked eating the piece of pizza in front of him.

"My adoption day," Jude said excitedly.

The Monday after Callie and Ben's talk, Stef and Lena took their lawyer and Donald and his lawyer to court to fight that Donald would sign his rights away. It was a rough process because Donald was getting back on his feet after being released on parole, but somehow the managed to win.

"If you can get away from work for awhile," Stef said, "our adoption hearing is at 3:30 and then we're having a big family celebration here. Lena's parents are flying in and so is my mom. Emily will be here too," she added just to watch her brother squirm a little.

"Uh yeah, sure, I'll be here," he said. "Wouldn't miss it. Adoption hearings are some of the most beautiful things."

"I sometimes forget that you've been to two of them," Stef said.

"I almost missed Leah's two years ago because of a final in my master's program." He said clearly still feeling guilty. "But, I'll defintely be at yours little man," he said to Jude. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Thank you, Uncle Ben." Jude said. "It means the world to me."

He nodded, "We, uh, we could do the celebration at my place though." The couple looked at him, "It'll be my present to Jude." He added. "And an excuse to use my grill."

"I like the sound of that," Stef said looking at Lena who nodded in agreement.

* * *

><p>The day before Jude's adoption hearing, the grandparents started to roll in from their respective homes. The three of them knew that Ben was in the Adams Foster family's lives now and the three of them couldn't wait to meet the man, especially Sharon, who had already met him once when she went to see Frank when she was visiting a six years back. The woman was excited to see him again.<p>

The three walked in with both Stef and Lena as Ben was sitting on the couch playing a video game with both Jesus and Jude.

"We're home," Stef called while walking through the front door.

The boys turned off the video game and excitedly met their moms and grandparents at the door. Callie and Mariana walked into the foyer from upstairs and Brandon walked in from the kitchen. All excitedly greeting their grandparents. Ben hung back letting the family welcome the three older adults until Sharon made eye contact with him.

"My goodness, you aren't that awkward, scrawny, 17-year-old boy anymore." Sharon said walking over to him, hugging him.

"I've picked up a weight or two in the last six years." He said hugging her back. "It's nice to see you again, Sharon."

She pulled back and grabbed his face in between her hands, "It's nice to see you too, kiddo."

"You two have met before?" Stef asked incredulously.

"Yeah," Sharon said. "Your father introduced me to him a few years back."

Stef's eyebrow raised, "Why?" She asked.

"Because one time he called me for parenting advice and I wanted to meet the kid." Sharon said looking at her daughter.

"You must be Mr. and Mrs. Adams," Ben said taking everybody's attention from the mother-daughter stare down that Stef and Sharon were in.

"Yes," Dana said, "but you can call us Dana and Stuart."

He nodded, "Ben," he introduced himself.

"We've heard a lot about you," Stuart said shaking the man's hand. "Nice handshake."

"Thanks, it's a pleasure to meet you both," he said.

"The pleasure is ours," Dana said as the doorbell rang.

"It's probably just Emily." Lena said answering the door. "Hi baby sister," she said.

"Hey big sister," Emily said stepping into the house. "Hi Mom, Dad, everybody else."

"Aunt Emily," all the kids called at once surrounding her in a group hug.

"Hey nieces and nephews." She chuckled. "Hi Stef," she said hugging her sister-in-law and kissing her cheek.

"Hey," Stef said. "Thanks for coming to the pre-celebration."

"Not a problem, we all know that Jude's my favorite nephew." Emily joked.

"Hey," she heard from both Brandon and Jesus.

"Hi Mom and Dad," she said hugging them sperately. "Sharon," she said. "It's always a pleasure to see you." She said hugging Stef's mom.

"Likewise." Sharon said.

"And, it really is true, Benjamin Carlson is related to Stefanine Adams Foster," she said shaking his hand.

"Nice to see you again, Emily Adams." He said shaking her hand.

"How on Earth do you two know each other?" Dana asked.

"She's my company lawyer." He said. "Saves us every time there's trouble."

"Which knowing this troublemaker," Emily said gesturing to Ben, "is most days of the year."

"That's Raider, not me." Ben defended. "I'm the good business owner."

Emily chuckled, "That's right, we established that Raider causes all the public trouble and you just start the prank wars in the office."

"Exactly," Ben said smiling softly at the woman, who looked like a 20-something version of Lena.

"Good to know that the mischivious pranking comes from the Elkin side of the family," Lena said eyeing Stef.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Stef said wrapping her arm around her wife's shoulders.

"Mhm," Lena said leaning into her wife. "Whatever you say." She kissed Stef's cheek.

"How about we make our way into the living room instead of all just standing in the foyer?" Stef said changing the subject.

* * *

><p>Later that night, Ben woke up from a nightmare and he couldn't breathe, he opted to sleep on an air mattress in the family room, giving Stuart and Dana the pull out couch and Sharon the family room couch and giving Emily the couch in the living room. They were making it a family affair with Jude's adoption having everybody stay over.<p>

He quietly slipped onto the back porch to get some air. He couldn't breathe, he didn't know why the nightmares were reoccurring and he sure as hell didn't want to go wake up Stef and Lena even if they practically beg him to. He sat on the steps of the porch when he heard the back door open and shut.

He turned around to see Stef standing their wrapping her robe around her tighter.

"Ben?" She said. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Stef." He said, "Sorry for waking you up. You can go back to sleep now."

"I'm not sure Lena would be able to forgive me if she knew I left you out here in the state you're in."

"I'm fine," he reiterated.

"And, I was born yesterday," Stef said sitting next to him wrapping her arm around him protectively. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"Nightmare," he answered honestly.

"Again?" Stef asked worriedly. "What was it about?" She asked going through their normal post-nightmare conversation.

"It started out okay," he said. "It always does. I was running a marathon and I was doing pretty good. And then my running turned into a full-on sprint and something was chasing me. I don't know what it was, but I know it wasn't something good. And just as it was about to catch me, I jolted awake."

Stef pressed a gentle kiss to the man's temple, "Bro," she said softly. "I think you need to take Lena's suggestion about getting some professional help."

"I don't need therapy." Ben argued.

"Oh, but you do." Stef said. "Look, I love you too much to see you go through this pain."

"What?" He asked Stef. The two have never actually said I love you to each other like normal siblings have, so it took him by surprise.

"Yeah, you heard me right." Stef said pressing another kiss to his temple, "I love you. You're my _brother,_ what makes you think that I like seeing you go through this?"

"The thought of therapy scares me," he said. "Not the going to it part, the dealing with the inner demons that have been here for so long part."

"What makes you think you'll be going through all of this alone?" Stef asked wrapping her arm tighter around the man, "Because Lena's already told you that we promised your moms that we would take care of you. She meant it. She loves you too, you know."

Ben's rested his head comfortably on Stef's shoulder, "She does?" He asked.

"Yeah," she said. "You're that younger brother she never got to have. She loves Emily, but she also wanted a younger brother too. So she gets to do that with you and it makes her happy."

He sat there comfortably in Stef's arms for awhile, it was pretty chilly outside with a breeze, but he felt oddly warm in Stef's protective embrace.

"For the record," he said after five minutes of a peaceful silence, "I love you too. Lena as well."

Stef smiled as she kissed the top of his head and slightly rocked the two of them back and forth.

After awhile Stef changed the subject by saying, "So, you and Emily."

"What about me and Emily?" Ben asked.

"How long is it going to take for you to realize that you like her and she likes you?" Stef said.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Ben said.

"Oh come on," Stef said. "The way you two were looking at each other throughout tonight makes me beg to differ."

Ben sighed, "You really know how to kill a beautiful moment Stef," he said.

"And you know how to avoid the subject," Stef said back.

"I do like her," he admitted, "but I've got all this stuff going through my head that I don't want to drag her along through all of that."

"You're a good guy Ben," she said.

"I try," he said. "I really do try."

* * *

><p>Jude's adoption hearing was what the Adams Foster family had been talking about since the Adams Foster wedding. It may have taken longer because of Donald and other legal issues, but when it finally arrived, the excitement in Stef, Lena, Brandon, Callie, Jesus, Mariana, and especially Jude, was high. Very high.<p>

When the judge brought down his gavel and meaning that Jude went from Jude Jacob, the foster kid, to Jude Jacob Adams Foster, the legal child of Stefanie and Lena Adams Foster. The family actually cheered.

After the chaos of the first family photo, adding the rest of the family in the mix, and leaving the courthouse, the entire family found themselves at Ben's place for the celebration.

Lena found Ben alone cooking on the grill and she came behind him, "How are those burgers coming along?" She asked.

"Good," he said. "Not that much longer."

Lena nodded, "Stef told me about your nightmare." She said.

He sighed, "Yeah, sorry for taking her from your side early this morning." He said.

"No need to apologize," she said. "Have you thought about what I suggested?" She asked, he tried to speak before Lena said, "Because Stef and I will be behind you 100% of the way. I promise you that."

"Okay," he said.

"Really?" Lena asked not willing to believe that a man related to her wife would cave so quickly.

"I'd like to be able to sleep through the night without any problems," he admitted.

Lena nodded and hugged the man, "I love you, Ben." She said, "You're like that little brother that I never had."

Ben smiled over the top of Lena's head, "I know," he said. "I love you too."

* * *

><p>The family was sitting around the back patio table laughing about a story Sharon was telling of Stef's childhood.<p>

"And I thought I gave my moms heart attacks growing up," Ben said to Stef.

"Yeah, I learned not to sneak out of the house late at night the hard way," she said to him. "I highly doubt, you gave your moms heart attacks when you graduated high school at 15."

"You clearly have never been to college period," he said. "The parties, the alcohol, the drugs..."

"Don't remind me," Stef said. "This one's off to Penn State in the fall," she added gesturing to Callie.

"Yeah on a full ride scholarship," the teenager said. "And I'm not messing that up."

"Smart kid," Stuart said from his place next to her placing a loose arm around the girl's shoulder.

"Thanks Pops," Callie said smiling.

As silence filled the back porch, Ben's phone went off, and he got up to take it,"Nuh uh," Stef called after him. "Come on bro."

"Sorry Jude," he said stepping inside. "Five minutes tops."

"It's fine Uncle Ben," the boy said.

"A work call during a family dinner?" Dana asked incredulously.

"Apparently, it's the norm when he's with his moms and siblings." Jesus answered his grandmother. "And he always keeps his word to five minutes."

"It's really fine," Jude said. "I'm honored that he took this afternoon off for me. He really didn't have to."

"Of course he did," Emily said from her place next to Jude, "family is important."

Lena smiled at her sister, it was funny how they were each other's opposites to everything, but family.

"Yeah, but either way, I understand." Jude said. "He also has to make a living."

"Dude, bro," Jesus said, "stop growing up on us already. Be thirteen." He joked making everybody laugh.

* * *

><p>Later that evening, everybody was scatter throughout Ben's private beachside stargazing. Stef and Lena had Jude between them cuddling the boy, Sharon, Stuart and Dana were sitting on the porch bench looking up at the sky, Brandon and Mariana were sitting crisscrossed talking, Callie and Jesus were lying on the beach with the arms behind their heads and feet crossed also talking. Leaving Ben and Emily standing on the balcony outside Ben's bedroom people watching their family.<p>

"How weird was it?" Emily asked him.

"How weird was what?" Ben asked back.

"Meeting your sister and her family," Emily said, "Because I know you Carlson, you are _not_ good when it comes to meeting new people. You get all awkard and introverted."

"She randomly showed up at the office one day," he said remembering when he finally got to meet his sister. "And the moment I heard Stefanie Adams Foster, I knew that it was the best day of my life. Lena insisted that if it went well that I come over for dinner," he said. "And it felt like I was being interviewed, y'know?"

Emily chuckled, "Yeah, I do know that," she said. "It felt like that when I first met Stef."

"I knew one day I would meet her," he said, "Stef," he clarified. "But, meeting her in the way I did was not what I expected."

Emily nodded, "I can understand that." She said.

* * *

><p>Down below Jesus and Callie were having a conversation about Callie's scholarship.<p>

"I'm going to miss you, dude." Jesus said. "I get why you're doing it though." He added. "Getting away from all that's hurt you."

Callie and Jesus had a pretty good sibling relationship. The understood what it was like to be a twin. The two spent most of the beginning of Jesus' time with the Adams Foster family bonding over soccer. Jude maybe the first person Callie would fight for, but Jesus was a close second and Mariana and Brandon would tie for third. Callie knew that it was the same for Jesus. He would fight for Jude first, her second, and Mariana and Brandon tired for third. And of course their moms were somewhere in there, nobody messed with the Adams Foster family and got away with it.

Callie smiled, "I'm sorry," she said. "I wanted to stay here with you guys, I just, it's a big opportunity, y'know?"

"I get it," Jesus said. "If I join you in two years, you wouldn't mind your little bro crashing all your college parties, right?"

"If Moms let you join me," she joked. "They're only letting me go solely because of my scholarship."

"It's just-" he started and then stopped. "San Diego is all I know. Hell California is all I know," he said. "Maybe we'll see what happens."

"I'm always going to be here for you Jesus," Callie said. "No matter if I'm in Pennsylvania or China, I'm always here for you."

Jesus nodded and the sound of the ocean a muted conversations from his family took over and then he said through a yawn, "But, if you ever go to China, take me with you."

"Deal," Callie said.

"Jude Adams Foster," Jesus said, "I really like the sound of that."

"Yeah, Jesus and Mariana Adams Foster have a nice ring to it as well," Callie said in a way of saying that she loves that he and Mariana are in the family too. Jesus smiled at his sister silently thanking her for always loving them.

* * *

><p>Brandon and Mariana were looking at the stars in silence before Mariana said, "How could you be okay with Callie going to Penn State?"<p>

"Whoever said I was okay with it?" Brandon asked his little sister.

"You aren't forcing her to stay," Mariana said.

"I'm not forcing her to go either. Brandon countered.

"B," Mariana said, "come on, I know you. This is hard for you. You've never been in a world without Callie there."

"You just _haaad_ to point out that Callie's fifteen minutes older." Brandon said jokingly. "Although, I did have piece and quiet for those fifteen minutes."

"Hey," Callie called over from her place with Jesus, "I heard that."

"It's true though, those were the quietest fifteen minutes of my life." Brandon said.

"The beginning of the loudness for me and your dad," Stef said from her place holding both Jude and Lena.

"And you all wanna know why I'm moving to Pennsylvania," Callie said.

"Mama and I still love you," Jude said from his place in both Stef and Lena's arms.

"Thank you," Callie said. "I still love you two as well."

"You may joke, but this is hard on you." Mariana said only to him. "I know that. If I were in your position with Jesus, I wouldn't know what to do."

"I'm moving to LA in the fall," Brandon said.

Mariana's eyes widened, "Do Moms know? Does your dad know? Hell does _anybody_ know?"

"Lou is getting the band a cheap place to crash, we're planning on taking Someone's Little Sister worldwide. But, no, Moms and my dad don't know and until we get everything into place. I would like to keep it that way." Brandon said looking at Mariana.

"Fine, my lips are sealed, but damn, I feel like I'm losing two siblings in one shot." She said.

"Sorry little sister," he said wrapping his arm around the girl. "Jude Adams Foster," he said after a moment, "it has a nice ring to it."

"It does, doesn't it?" Mariana agreed.

* * *

><p>Stef was holding Jude and Lena, how she didn't know - Jude was in between them, but she had her arms around the both of them.<p>

"You know I could sit with the grandparents if you want to hold Mama solo, Mom." Jude said.

"Nonsense." Stef said. "This is my favorite spot with two of my favorite people." She kissed Jude's temple.

"Okay," he said. "Sorry, I've been in the foster care system long enough to sometimes not feel like I'm worth anybody's time."

"You're worth _our_ time baby," Lena said kissing his cheek.

"Sometimes I feel like you two are just saying that." He said.

"We aren't baby," Stef assured. "We want to spend time with our boy."

"Okay," he said attempting to snuggle into them both.

"We love you, Jude." Lena said kissing his forehead. "Nothing's going to change that."

"I love you too," he said, burying his face into Lena's chest.

"Jude Adams Foster," Stef said aloud, "I really like the sound of that."

Lena hummed, "Me too." She agreed with her wife.

"Me three," Jude said smiling.

* * *

><p>The three grandparents were sitting on the back porch sipping on wine and talking about their family.<p>

"Jude's a good kid," Sharon said. "Been through a lot in his short 13 years, but he's still a good kid."

"Stef and Lena are a good fit for him," Dana agreed. "I hope that he can finally settle in and be apart of this family."

"Yeah," Stuart said, "it's like the family is almost complete."

"What do you mean?" Sharon asked.

"We're waiting for that one to settle down and start a family," he said pointing up to where Emily and Ben were talking.

"What do you think it'll take for those two to see that they have feelings for each other?" Sharon asked.

"A goddamn miracle," Dana said. "Emily Mae was always an oblivious one. Seems like Ben is a little too."

"Hopefully one day they'll see it," Stuart said, "but until then, don't push the matter." He said to both the woman, but mainly Dana. "We have five beautiful grandchildren that can tide us over until Emily decides to have kids of her own."

"Yeah," Dana said, "we do."

* * *

><p><strong>AN 2:** Don't worry the story isn't focused on the whole Ben-Emily thing. It will be a minor plot in the story though. This idea has been in my head since before I started writing this story out. I really thank you for sticking with me. :)


	8. The Road To Unconditional Love

**A/N:** Thank you so much for your support.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Eight: The Road To Unconditional Love<strong>

Stef and Ben where in an intense staring match when Lena walked into the kitchen from the grocery store one Saturday early afternoon.

"Dare I ask what's going on?" Lena said to the siblings.

"I got us tickets to the Dodger-Padre game," Ben said. "And by _us_ I mean, myself, Stef, Jesus, and Brandon, and Jude, if they want to go. And she's trying to reimburse me for them."

"What's wrong with that?" Lena asked placing the bags down on the table looking at her wife.

"You two feed me every day," he said. "I don't care if the lunches are leftovers from the night before." He said to Stef. "Please let me take you and my nephews with no strings attached."

"Stef honey," Lena said coming behind her wife kissing her head, "you should just let him do it."

"Fine," she said, "but let me pay for parking."

"Come on," he said, "can you let me take you out without insisting on paying for something?"

"No," Stef said.

"Is she always like this?" Ben asked Lena.

The principal nodded, "Sorry kiddo, you're out of luck with this one. She's stubborn."

He grumbled, "You're not paying for anything," he then said. "This is my treat to my sister and my nephews."

"You're not going to try to convert Jude into being a Dodgers fan are you?" Stef asked squinting at him.

"Considering he has to live in this house, you really think I'd do that? Have some faith." He said.

"Okay fine," she said. "Your treat to us." Stef caved.

"Good," he said picking up the coffee mug he was drinking coffee out of.

"So Ben," Lena said. "Emily asked me about you yesterday."

Ben sighed, "When are you two going to let that go?" He asked a little exasperated.

"When you finally grow the balls to ask her out," Stef said earning an uneasy look that almost looked like a glare from her wife. "Sorry," she said. "When you get the guts to ask her out," she amended.

"Stef, we talked about this," Ben said. "I have my own demons to work out before I get into any relationship."

Lena looked over at her wife and then to her brother-in-law, "You said that?" Lena asked.

"Yeah, after I had that nightmare the night before Jude was adopted." He answered his sister-in-law, "I don't want to get into a relationship with Emily and then drag her along through whatever demons I have to work out. That's how my last relationship ended, but the thing was, I didn't know I had all of this inside me. So, I got really attached and then really hurt when it all ended. I don't want to get myself hurt or hurt Emily in this process."

Lena looked fondly on the man, she appreciated his heart, and not wanting to hurt her baby sister, but she had to ask the next question, "You like her though, right?"

"I have feelings for her that I haven't had for anybody. Liking somebody and having feelings for them are two different things. Do I like her? Yeah, of course. Do I have feelings for her? In a way I don't even understand." He looked deep into Lena's soft eyes, "I have no intention on hurting your baby sister, so until I'm fully ready to be in a relationship with her, I'm not going to push it."

Lena smiled, "Thank you," she said. "I'm a little protective of her sometimes. Especially when it comes to dating. Stef is too."

"She's become like a little sister," Stef said. "A super smart and a little nerdy little sister, but still a little sister."

"She is kind of nerdy," Ben agreed.

"So are you," Stef said.

"I'm not a little nerdy," he said.

"I think you know more about DC and Marvel comics _and_ characters than anybody else that I know," Stef said through a chuckle.

"I was an only child for eleven years and then Leo came along and was equally into them, that's how we, well, bonded." Ben said thinking of that Saturday morning where all the two of them did was read comics and play video games. It had been the morning that the two really went from foster brothers to just brothers.

_Flashback._

A 12-year-old Ben was really skeptical of a 6-year-old Leonardo, or as the boy liked to be called Leo. His moms said if this worked out that he would turn from a Leonardo Tyler to a Leonardo Wright-Carlson. Ben was really trying to get along with him, but with the six year age gap, he was finding it harder too.

But, they shared a bathroom that connected all three of the non-master bedrooms together and Ben really did like the boy. He was trying hard to relate with him, but he could tell that by the age of six, he'd been late down more than he should've ever had to.

One Saturday morning they both were brushing their teeth in the bathroom when an idea came to Ben. He loved comic books and video games and he was hoping that Leo did too.

"Hey Leo," Ben said after spitting out the toothpaste as the boy looked at him through the mirror, "do you like comic books and video games?" The older boy asked. Leo nodded his head before spitting out his toothpaste. "I have a ton of comic books and video games in my room. Do you want to hang out today after breakfast?"

Leo nodded and softly said, "Yeah, sure, but uh, I don't know really how to read that well." He admitted softly.

"That's fine," Ben said. "If anything I can read to you and you can still play video games, right?"

"Don't you have to go to San Diego to see your dad?" Leo asked.

"He's at some church retreat this weekend," Ben said. "So nope."

"Okay yeah sure." Leo said. "That sounds fun."

"Cool," he said. "My room after breakfast, okay?" Leo nodded.

After breakfast, the two boys were sitting in Ben's room going between Ben reading comic books out loud to Leo and playing video games. What neither one of the boys didn't know is that Kelly was standing outside Ben's bedroom door most of the afternoon watching tearfully at the boys because her son finally understood the concept of what family really was.

_End Flashback._

Ben was brought of the memory by Stef saying, "You two bonded over comic books and video games?"

"Yeah," Ben said, "it was actually the only thing we could get along with at first. When he first came into the picture, I had a major case of the only child syndrome. I thought he was taking more of my moms' attention away. It made me mad. Then I was on a quest to graduate from high school early. Just to get away from it all."

"I thought you love your family?" Stef asked.

Ben rubbed his head, "I do, a heck of a lot," he assured, "but sometimes, I feel like I'm invisible in my own childhood home."

"Do you think that maybe that's why you have these demons inside of you?" Lena asked starting to put the groceries away.

"Maybe," he said as Stef came around the table and put a loose arm around him.

"Something to talk about in therapy," Stef said as he rolled his eyes.

"I guess," he muttered, still not liking the prospect of therapy.

"It'll be fine," Lena said. "Doctor Baylor is a good friend of mine," she added, "she won't push your more than you can handle. And Stef and I will be outside waiting for you afterwards."

He chuckled, "You two do realize that you aren't my moms right? You don't have to sit outside my therapy appointment." He said.

"We're here for you," Stef said. "And nothing's going to change that."

* * *

><p>It was rare, but Jesus and Mariana were out and about together for once - just being siblings.<p>

"What do you want to do?" Jesus asked Mariana. "With our allowance combined we maybe able to spend the day at the pier."

"Like we used to?" Mariana asked.

Jesus smiled and nodded. When they came to live with Stef and Lena, they would save up their weekly allowance and went once a month to the pier and it was like it was just the two of them. No adoptive family that sometimes they didn't feel belonged in. No crazy, high birth mother. Just Jesus and Mariana.

_Flashback._

Jesus and Mariana had been living with the Fosters for about two months now and while they felt comfortable they felt like they were always in competition with the older twins, Brandon and Callie.

The family was taking a family day at the pier and neither set of twins agreed on what to do and both Stef and Lena saw their soon-to-be newest additions to the family really apprehensive and just giving into whatever Brandon and Callie wanted to do.

Stef knelt down in front of them and said, "Do you want to go on that roller coaster ride?" Both of them shook their heads, "Do you want to go play some games?" Stef asked, they both subtly nodded their heads. "How about this," Stef then said, "I'll take the older twins on the roller coaster and since Lena isn't a fan of them, she'll take you to play some games? Does that sound fair?" She asked.

"You would do that for us?" Jesus asked Stef in a small voice. A voice that they had heard in Mariana, but not in the usual hyperactive Jesus.

"Of course," Lena said crouching down to their level, "we want this to be a day that we all enjoy."

"Mariana is afraid of roller coasters and I don't want to leave her, we thought we were coming here just to play games," he said, trying to find a little more confidence.

"And that's okay," Lena said. "Stef will take the older twins on the roller coaster and I'll take you two to go play some games? Does that sound good?" The younger twins nodded. "Alrighty, let's meet back here in about an hour and a half, okay?" She said mainly to Lena who nodded.

"Sounds good honey," Lena said softly and quickly kissing Stef's cheek, "have fun." Lena then crouched down to the younger twins level again, "Alrighty, you to ready to have some fun?" She asked. They both nodded, "Let's go." She said leading them to where games were on the pier.

Lena stood back and watched the younger twins play games and they quietly communicated in Spanish to each other as they went from one game to the next. As they got a little bit older, they started going once a month to just be siblings again.

_End Flashback._

"Ever since Callie accepted the scholarship for Penn State, I've been thinking about how in two years, that could be us, y'know? I've never been in a world without you and I think once a month we should do this, like we used to."

Mariana nodded, "Of course," she said as they got on they started walking to the pier.

When they got their they started to play a few games and that's how they spent their afternoon together and as they were about ready to head home for dinner, something or rather somebody caught their eye.

"Ana," they both said quietly to each other as they watched their birth mother walk towards them for the first time since Stef got shot on what could've been a fatal night for the Foster family.

* * *

><p>When Jesus and Mariana arrived home later that night they were talking to each other lowly in Spanish.<p>

"Tenemos que decirles. (We have to tell them.)" Mariana said.

"No, ambos nos matarán. (No, they both will kill us.)" Jesus said.

"Hay madres, Jesús. Tenemos que decirles. (There are moms, Jesus. We have to tell them.)" Mariana argued.

"Hey," Stef said as they entered the kitchen. "None of us speak Spanish in this house."

"Speak for yourself," Ben said. "I do." The younger twins' eyes went wide as he looked at them and said, "Sea lo que sea que está escondidos, no va a ser bonito si lo mantienes de vuestras madres durante demasiado tiempo. (Whatever it is you two are hiding, it's not going to be pretty if you keep it from your moms for too long.)"

"Wow, do you speak any other languages?" Lena asked.

"Yeah, Japanese, Sign Language, and a little French." He said.

"Show off," Stef playfully muttered under her breath while playfully shoving his shoulder.

"It works good in business deals with Japan and Mexico." Ben said taking a sip of the beer in front of him.

"What's going on babies?" Stef asked her youngest set of twins.

Jesus looked at Mariana and vigorously shook his head, but Mariana didn't listen, "We were at the pier and we had a good afternoon until we ran into Ana."

"Mariana," Jesus muttered under his breath.

"The last time I didn't tell them, Mom almost died," she said to Jesus.

Stef and Lena looked at each other, "Did you talk to her?" Stef asked.

"Well we didn't want to be rude," Mariana defended.

"What did she want?" Lena asked with an uneasy look on her face.

"She wanted to talk to us," Jesus said, "but don't worry. I didn't let her. I told her we were going to be late for dinner and we walked away."

"Is that all?" Stef asked. Not fully trusting the two at that moment. They nodded, "Are you sure?" She asked again mainly for her and Lena's sake.

"Mom," Jesus said. "We know what we did to this family that night. I'm not having both Brandon and Callie yell at us both again."

"Why would we yell?" Brandon said coming into the kitchen for dinner with Callie and Jude in tow.

"We ran into Ana today," Mariana answered as both Brandon and Callie went stiff.

Ben, who was watching everything somewhat amused, finally spoke up, "So what exactly happened that night to make your oldest two get like that?" He asked making a mention to how stiff the older twins were.

"It's a long story," Stef said.

"Cliffnotes are always good in my opinion." The man said.

"These two were stupid enough to go behind their backs and get in contact with their birth mom," Callie said, obviously it lit a fuse in the girl.

"Hey," Stef chastised, "easy there, Striker."

"We almost lost her," Jude said. "We didn't know whether or not she was going to make it."

"But, she did." Lena assured everyone in the room. "She's still here," she said mainly to Callie who was still lit up about the situation. Lena put a comforting hand on Callie's forearm. "Easy on your brother and sister, please." Lena asked softly knowing that for whatever reason it was, Callie listened better to Lena than she did to Stef.

Brandon who had loosened up a bit had tried to make a joke, "Well at least Mom made an honest woman outta Mama." He said making the family laugh.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ben asked gently to the couple.

"We've really been only married for almost four months, legally. I had some hidden homophobia from Dad." Stef answered her brother. "The first words out of my mouth to Lena after being shot was, 'will you marry me?' We had been together ten years before. Married in our hearts for at least seven years prior." She said looking over at Lena grabbing her hand.

Ben smiled at the couple, it actually warmed his heart to see two people so in love with each other. He didn't quite understand why people didn't see what he saw. Love is just love.

* * *

><p>That night Stef and Lena were in their bedroom cuddling, Stef lied flat on her back with Lena's head on her chest thinking.<p>

"Whatcha thinking about, my love?" Stef asked Lena.

"Why is it that every time we settle down into a groove Ana shows back up again?" Lena asked frustratedly. "Every single time. I just want her gone."

"I know love," Stef agreed playing with the end of Lena's curls. "I want her gone too, but there's not much we can do about it."

"We can file a restraining order, can't we?" Lena asked.

"Baby," Stef said, "at some point, we need to face this situation head on and not hide behind a restraining order because we're afraid she's going to use the younger twins again."

Lena groaned, "So it seems the roles are reversed right now," she said. "You're the one that's usually hotheaded when it comes to the whole Ana situation."

"Yeah," Stef said, "but I think the younger kids could find some closure, y'know, like Jude did with Donald? I think Jesus and Mariana could use that with Ana, don't you?"

"Yes," Lena muttered under her breath, "but it doesn't mean that I have to like it."

Stef chuckled and kissed her wife's forehead, "I love you Lena." She said.

"I love you too, Stef." Lena said looking up and kissing her wife.

* * *

><p>Ben was downstairs on the pull-out couch wearing glasses and working on his laptop when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. He looked up to see the younger set of twins standing there with nervous bottom lips between both their teeth.<p>

"What's up?" He asked.

"You wear glasses?" Jesus asked trying to break the ice a little.

"Yeah," Ben said. "I wear contacts most days, but typically when I work at night I wear glasses, buuut I know that's not why you two came down here."

"We, we just," Jesus tried looking over at his sister.

"We just want to know if every time you're around and we speak Spanish that you're going to sell us out in Spanish in front of our non-Spanish speaking family." She said.

"Look," Ben said, "I don't like being the uncool uncle, especially since I was seven when you two were born. I like the fact that you guys are comfortable with me around. What I did tonight wasn't to sell you out, in fact, it was actually to get you to talk to your moms." He said making eye contact with them, "Because ever since I got here, I could tell the apprehensiveness and the uneasy tension between you two and them."

"We almost got our mom killed," Jesus said. "We feel awful about it."

Mariana looked down at her feet, "And the older twins and our mama they were really mad at us. We didn't want to cause anymore trouble than we already caused." She added.

Ben sighed and moved his MacBook and scooted over making room for the twins, "C'mere," he said to them as they got on either side of him he placed his arms around them both, "your moms and your older siblings, they _love_ you. Nothing's ever going to change that." He stared off into the distance for a moment before saying, "When I was younger my moms wanted to expand our family, but my mom's pregnancy with me was bad and my mama couldn't get pregnant. So they sat me down and asked me if it was okay if they became foster parents and then when Leo came into the picture I was 11 and at first I wanted him to go back to where he came from because he took away almost all of my moms' attention. And it made me mad to the point of I almost said no when they asked if it was okay to adopt him because I thought my moms didn't love me anymore because they had Leo. Is that how you feel with your moms? Do you feel like they don't love you anymore?"

Both the twins nodded, "Initially we thought they didn't want to keep us anymore." Mariana admitted for them both cuddling into her uncle.

"Yeah," Jesus said. "We just sometimes feel like we don't fit in here anymore," he said as his head fell.

"I heard your mama say something to Jude on his adoption day that still rings true to you two," Ben said running his fingers through Mariana's hair. "She said that DNA doesn't make a family, love does. They love you." He said. "A lot more than you two are giving yourself credit for. And as for Brandon and Callie, they love you too. They may have lashed out on you initially, but that's because they don't understand what it's like to not have enough."

"What do you mean?" Jesus asked.

"They've always had your moms and their dad who loved them unconditionally. Who would do anything for them, but they don't know what it's like to have the people who should've always been there for him walk away. I don't know what that's like either, I always had my moms and my dad in some way, but I watched my siblings, Leo and Leah, and they had the same issue you two did. Their moms and dads walked away from them. Leah's not on purpose, but Leo's was. Stef and Lena Adams Foster are your guys' version of Leo and Leah's Payton and Kelly Wright-Carlson. They will never give up on you. Not now, not ever."

The three sat there in a peaceful silence for awhile little did they know both Brandon and Callie were sitting on the top of the stairs listening to the entire conversation, they got up and walked into Brandon's room to have a conversation of their own.

* * *

><p>"Do you think we're too hard on them?" Brandon asked Callie, who was pacing the room.<p>

"They almost got Mom killed, B. Did you expect us to go easy on them?" Callie asked. "You know I love them, but every time Ana is brought up, bad things happen. First we almost couldn't adopt them and then they almost got Mom killed."

"Okay," Brandon said jumping up, "calm down. Damn, you get really worked up over this."

"We're _lucky_ that Mom survived." Callie said.

"But, Uncle Ben's right, we don't know what it's like to have the people who shouldn't have walked out on us walk out."

"Dad walked out," Callie said. "He didn't even fight for Mom. He just tried to drink away his problems. Dad walked out."

"And then he sobered up and came back," Brandon said. "Jesus and Mariana never met their dad and their mom was the biggest druggie that they've ever known. Yeah, Dad walked out and it hurt. Like fucking hell it hurt, but he came back. Moms let him come back. Ana may not have that chance with Jesus and Mariana."

Callie looked at her brother with passion in her eyes, "She doesn't deserve that chance." She said. "She managed to get knocked up and she couldn't own up to her consequences? Making those two down there go through hell." She said gesturing to the door. "She doesn't deserve that chance."

"Woah," Brandon said, "Callie, calm down. We aren't getting in the way of this. Not again."

"I'm not, but there's no way in hell that I'm going to watch them go through that again." Callie said.

Brandon placed both hands on his sister's shoulders, "All we can do is love them," Brandon said. "All we could do is look after them. All we can do is make them feel safe and loved. That's _all_ we can do."

Callie noticed the somber voice that her twin chose to use and then decided to calm down a little before causing more problems.

* * *

><p><strong>AN2:** That Spanish may not be accurate, I used BabelFish, but I'm debating about exploring that whole Ana storyline for a couple of chapters, just because it intrigued me so much watching it on the show.

Anyway, I meant to finish this and get it up yesterday, but family situations came up and I was drown in Pre-Algebra all night last night and all day today. So here you go! :)


	9. The Road To Change

**A/N:** Appreciate all the support!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Nine: The Road To Change<strong>

The next big event in the Adams Foster family was Brandon and Callie's graduation. The three grandparents were in town again and Mike was around the Adams Foster residence a little more.

"So," Dana said to Brandon, "Callie's going off to Penn State and your moms said you haven't said a word about your future."

Mariana looked over at her older brother, she had kept her word to keep her mouth shut, but she knows that he wouldn't lie to Gram, so she watched amusingly.

Brandon rubbed his forehead as he looked around the dining room trying to figure out how to answer that question. He saw his moms and dad looking up from their respective plate of food staring at him intrigued. His other two grandparents looking at him behind glasses of wine. His twin, Jesus, and Jude looking at him waiting for him to answer. Mariana was trying to hold in a smirk. And it was like Ben hadn't eaten in over a week and was so engrossed in his food that he didn't hear the question.

Brandon decided to just go with the truth, "Lou got us a deal with somebody in LA, they're just waiting for Mat and I to graduate and turn 18 to sign." He said making both Stef and Mike drop their forks.

"That's great honey," Lena said for the three parents. "Isn't that great Stef and Mike?" She asked her wife and her wife's ex husband in order to get them out of the haze that they both were in.

"We're losing two kids in one shot," Stef said to Mike.

"I knew that this would happen with twins," Mike said, "but it still shocks me that it's going to happen."

"So you two aren't mad?" Brandon asked his mom and dad. "Because I'd like you to be on board with this, but if not that's okay too."

"Yeah," Stef said. "We're okay with it honey. We were just shocked that you actually had a plan. Considering out of the two of you," she gesturing between the oldest twins, "you're not the one usually with a plan." She said to Brandon.

Brandon nodded with a smile, "Lou said she'd come to the graduation party to talk to you about it too."

"Sounds good," Stef said with a soft smile to her son.

Everybody was continuing eating in a peaceful silence when Ben finally spoke up, "Hey Jude, could you pass me the tritip please?"

Stef looked at her brother's plate as they had been only eating for about five minutes, "Good lord Ben, were you hungry?"

"What can I say?" He asked. "You ditched me today for lunch and I haven't eaten since breakfast at about 6:30 this morning."

"That's not healthy," Lena commented. "Were you like that before Stef came into the picture?"

"Maybe," he said putting more food on his plate and he looked up at Lena who gave him a glare.

"Ben," Lena said sighing.

"Sometimes I work all the way through lunch and don't eat until dinner," he said.

"We gotta get you out of that habit," Stef said placing a hand on her brother's thigh. "No need you dying by the time you're 25 because you don't eat something."

"Yeah, Emily might not appreciate that," Sharon joked making the man spit out the small amount of water that he was drinking.

"And we want more grandchildren eventually," Stuart jumped into messing with him.

"Oooh nieces and nephews," Lena said playfully.

"Just what I was about to say," Stef said winking at her wife. "You might want to get on top of that bro."

"Where is that Emily Mae tonight?" Dana asked Lena, but Ben answered.

"Still in the office something or another about a big law suit against a marketing company." He said and everybody looked at him, "What?"

"You do know that I was asking Lena that question, yes?" Dana asked.

"She never called me so I wouldn't have known," Lena said looking at the man.

Everybody's eyes were now on him, "Okay so maybe we talk a little." He said.

"A little?" Stef asked.

"We're just friends," he said.

"And I was born yesterday," Stef said.

"Seriously, when she comes over tomorrow you can ask her, we're just friends." He said. "I need to get myself together before we can be anything more and she and I are on the same page with that."

"So there's been talk," Callie said from across from him.

"Well I wasn't going to lead her on without an explanation." He said.

"See," Callie said, "why can't all guys be like you."

"What? Trouble in paradise with Aiden?" Brandon teased earning a glare from his twin.

"No, but still if all guys would just be decent enough to tell us women how they're feeling, the world would be one step closer to perfect."

"Look," Ben said to almost all the adults in the room, "Emily and I are just friends. Nothing more, nothing less."

"But you like her," Mike said surprising everybody.

"Y-yes," he said looking at the man who has only ever said a paragraph to him since meeting him at the Callie's state championship.

"The way your eyes light up when you talk about her are the same way that Stef's light up when she talks about Lena," Mike said. "And the fact that you don't want to screw things up is pretty honorable if you ask me."

"Thanks Mike," Ben said. "See why can't you all be like Mike?" He asked the rest of the adults in the room.

"We're just teasing bro," Stef said putting her arm around his shoulder. "If it's bothering you just let us know."

"I just am tired of being rushed, y'know? My moms are wanting grandchildren already and I'm tired of being pushed."

"I'm sorry." Stef said. "I didn't know."

"I didn't expect you to," Ben said. "I just am tired of being pushed. I know I should settle down and start a family. But, if I'm not ready to it's just all going to end bad and I don't want that for anybody, especially Emily."

"You're wiser than most," Stuart mentioned.

"I had to grow up a little faster than most parents would want their kid to. My moms expected a lot from me when they became foster parents." He said looking down at his second helping of food.

"Hey," Stef said rubbing up and down his arm, "look at me." Ben slowly looked up into his sister's eyes, "You're a good guy," she reassured. "And Stuart, Dana, Lena, and I, all appreciate you taking care of Emily's heart."

"We do," Stuart said. "My baby girl deserves a Prince Charming."

"We're still going to tease you a little though," Stef said. "Just because it's fun and you tease me and Lena all the time. And if it gets too much, just say so."

"Fair enough," Ben smiled and nodded his head before going back to eating dinner, Stef stayed the rest of dinner with her arm loosely wrapped around her little brother.

* * *

><p>When Emily arrived the next morning, Ben met her outside, "Woah Carlson," she said, "I know we said that we'll take things turtle slow, but this is kind of speeding up isn't it?"<p>

Ben sighed, "Not you too." He said.

"Sorry." She said blushing a little. "What's up?"

"You remember what we talked about right?" He asked, "About us having feelings for each other, but me having a shit ton of demons to work out?" He reminded.

"Yes," she said.

"They're going to make comments, okay?" He said, "They've been making them since Stef and I picked them up at the airport. And our sisters have been egging them on."

"Well, thanks for the warning, Ben," she said warmly. "That's very thoughtful of you." She gave him a hug.

He opened the door and let her in, "It's also a little chaotic. Brandon and Callie are stressed out. Jesus and Mariana are walking on egg shells since their birth mom is sort of in the picture. Jude's trying to stay out of everybody's way. Stef and Mike are an equal emotional mess. Lena's trying to comfort Stef. And your parents and Sharon are trying to keep it all together. Please be the only sane one for me." He said all in a whisper.

"Thanks for the heads up," she said.

"Emily Mae," Dana said, "it's about time you got here."

"Hi Mom," she said hugging the older woman and kissing her cheek.

"Baby girl," Stuart said hugging his daughter and kissing her cheek.

"Hi Daddy," Emily said kissing her dad's cheek.

"Aunt Emily!" The younger twins and Jude came running up to her.

"Hi Jesus, Mariana, and Jude," she said hugging them all individually.

"Perfect baby sister," Lena said, "I need you for a second."

"I'm great big sister, how are you?" Emily said sarcastically.

"Your sarcasm is not needed, please just come with me." The older sister said, pulling her out to the front porch.

"Fine," Emily said, "but I want longer hugs from the graduates and Stef when I get back."

"You got it," the three yelled from the kitchen.

The two sisters made their way out front, "What's so important that it couldn't wait until later?"

"You're waiting for Ben to get his act together?" Lena raised her eyebrow, "You don't wait well when it comes to dating. Need I to remind you of Alex?"

"No, no need." Emily said being reminded of her abusive law school ex boyfriend. She rushed into every relationship after that way too fast.

"He's being a good guy, getting his act together before getting into a relationship, but I know you sissy," Lena said running her hand through her sister's curly hair. "You are impatient and you don't like waiting."

"I won't lie," Emily said, "it's killing me. Waiting for him to get his act together, but I really like him. Ever since that whole trial with the LA Times. I can't stop thinking of him."

"Em," Lena said. "You should tell him this."

"I don't want to push him, y'know?" She said almost crying. "He looks so well put together and then when you really started to peel back the layers, he's so broken and hurt. It hurts me just watching him breakdown."

Lena pulled her sister into her arms and sat them both on the front porch bench, "Oh sissy," Lena cooed.

"Then he does stuff like send me a funny link via text message or we have this conversation about something and then he goes out of his way to go the extra mile and do a little more research about it if he doesn't fully understand it. He's a good guy and I'm starting to really fall for him."

"Have you told him any of this?" Lena asked.

"To be told that he's not ready?" Emily asked. ""That'll just hurt me all over again."

"Okay, okay," Lena said now rocking her and her sister back and forth. "You're going to go into a panic attack if you're not careful." She said softly to her sister. "Breathe for me, sissy. Breathe."

"Why does it have to be like this?" She asked. "I finally find a good guy and he has to be weighted down by demons. Demons that should've never come."

"He's seeking professional help," Lena said, running fingers through her hair. "Just give it a few more months. The nightmares are settling down. He hasn't called us in the middle of the night in over a week."

"Because he doesn't want to bother you," Emily said. "The nightmares are still there."

"How do you know?" Lena asked. "He doesn't call you, does he?" Emily looked up at her sister and bit her lip, "Oh my god," she said. "That boy." Lena muttered.

"He doesn't want to feel like he's bugging you." Emily defended the man, "he knows you and Stef have lives that you have to live. And he doesn't want to interrupt that. He feels bad that he calls me at three in the morning."

"He knows that we're always there for him," Lena said. "Always."

"He knows that, but he also knows that you two are moms with kids who _need_ you. He doesn't want to get in the way of that."

"Do you help him through his post-nightmare panic attacks?" Lena asked, running her fingers through her sister's curls.

The younger sister nodded, "I do." She said. "It's not as easy as when you used to do it with me when I was younger."

"It's different being on this side of the line." Lena said, remembering calming her baby sister down like she used to. "I had to keep myself from crying every time I had to calm you down."

"What about Ben?" Emily asked looking up at her big sister.

"I have to hold myself together all the time," Lena said. "He's so vulnerable in my arms when I hold him after words, I've never seen a man try so hard to break the stereotype of men can't be weak."

"He's a good role model for the kids, especially the boys." Emily said.

"He really is and I just wanted to make sure you were actually willing to wait for him. I know you don't like to wait," Lena said holding her sister.

"I'm willing to wait for Benjamin Carlson," she said. "I'll wait to the end of the world if it means that we work." Lena kissed the top of her baby sister's head, "Though, why do you make fun of him about it?"

"Because it's cute to watch him blush and watch him squirm like he does." Lena answered. "And because he makes fun of me and Stef all the time like you do."

The two sister shared a small laugh before getting up and going inside to their family.

* * *

><p>Ben didn't know why, but graduations always made him feel the change in the air. Here over 100 Anchor Beach students will be off to their own new adventures in a matter of a month or two and he felt the change in the air. The grandparents, Mike, and Stef were looking for seats. Lena was on the campus doing her principal graduation duties. Emily was running a little behind schedule and the younger twins were off talking with respective friends leaving Ben and Jude looking out at the ocean.<p>

"This is my favorite part of this school," Jude said. "Every lunch listening to the sounds of the ocean."

"Yeah, the ocean is a beautiful thing." Ben said. "Not that I mind, but don't you have friends that you could be hanging out with?"

"The only friend I really have can't hang out with me," Jude said. "Because his dad thinks that I'm gay."

"Really?" Ben asked putting his arm around his youngest nephew as he nodded, "That sucks. Not that it matters, but are you?"

"I don't know," Jude said. "I just am tired of labels, y'know? Why does everybody have to go around labeling everybody?" Ben nodded his head just listening to the boy, he figured that he'd let him vent before he does his whole uncle advice thing that he's found himself doing with the Adams Foster children. "I just miss my friend." Jude said. "It's not fair. Why does this world have to be so cruel?" The boy looked up at his uncle with tears in his eyes.

Ben wrapped his arm tighter around the boy, "When my brother Leo was about your age he went through the same thing," the man said to the somewhat distraught boy in his arm. "I would watch him watch my moms be so comfortable with each other. You're 13 yes?" Ben asked and received a nod from Jude, "Yeah, that's how old he was when he started to question everything. He had been safely adopted into our family for five years by that point, but was still scared that if he acted upon what he was feeling they would disown him. You're not afraid of that with your moms are you?"

He shook his head, "No, I know that they'll love me no matter what." He said.

"You just want to be sure that you know?" Ben asked and Jude nodded, "You want to know what you are to me?" He asked, Jude's eyes lit up as he nodded, "You're my nephew. You're the coolest kid I know. You've been through a lot. And you're going to do a lot of great things. I know it."

"Thanks Uncle Ben," Jude said as somebody came up behind them. "Hey Mom," Jude said to Stef who kissed his head.

"Hey baby," she said. "We have seats, the ceremony is about to start."

"Okay," Jude said as he walked into the general direction in where his grandparents were seated leaving the sister-brother duo by themselves.

"You doing okay?" Stef asked as she wrapped her arm around the man.

Ben nodded, "Yeah," he said not really wanting to share about the moment he had just had with Jude. "You ready to watch your babies graduate?"

"Don't remind me." She said playfully leading him to the saved seats.

* * *

><p>Lena was standing about ready to introduce the student class nominated speaker, "So in true Anchor Beach tradition, the faculty, administration, and staff, do not know who the graduating class nominated to speak until I get up here and announce them." She chuckled, "I'm not sure why this is a tradition, but it's been around longer than I have, so I kept it when I became principal ten years ago. I'm always up for surprises anyhow." She joked. "This year," she stopped looking at the name and smiling softly to herself before continuing, "This year our student nominated speaker is by pure happenstance one of my own. They have been coming to this school since kindergarten and have great things ahead of them. They've been through their fair share of trials and tribulation, but have taken it with nothing, but grace and love. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm absolutely proud to introduce to you, Brandon Foster."<p>

Brandon walked up to the stage, in his cap and grown, and hugged Lena kissing her cheek before taking the podium to say his speech, "Thank you Principal Adams Foster or as I'm one of five of the luckiest people on Earth, who gets to call you, Mama." He smiled back at her before continuing, "Good afternoon Anchor Beach faculty, administration, teachers, my fellow graduating class, my family, friends, and my graduating class' family and friends. It's an honor to stand up here today."

"This is where I would say some corny quote about us moving forward in our lives, but I think I know our graduating class a little better than to do that. Y'see, a lot of us have been under this administration and the reigns of Principal Adams Foster for the last ten to thirteen years. We've had many adventures together, but we couldn't have done them without the following people."

Brandon cleared his throat, "From scavenger hunts on the beach in history with Mr. Gilmore and Mrs. Rodriguez. From pep rallies with Mrs. Brown to finding our way through Shakespearean times with Timothy and Mrs. Tyler. Our formative, academic years would not be the same without their love for us and their support through it all. So to all the teachers sitting out there, on behalf of our graduating class, thank you."

Brandon nervously adjusted his tie, "We also couldn't do it without the love and support of our families. Our parents and our siblings. My moms and dad never gave me and my twin sister anything to ever worry about. They always made sure we were clothed, fed, well rested, and whether we liked it or not made sure we did our homework. They drug us out of bed morning after morning to make sure we could be educated individuals to contribute to society. So as I thank Michael Foster and Stefanie and Lena Adams Foster, I say on behalf of all the students out there to their parents, thank you."

He found his mom and dad's watery eyes out in the crowd, "Mom, Dad, thank you." He then turned to where Lena was sitting behind him and looked into her equally watery eyes and said, "Mama, thank you."

"But, there's one more group of people, I'd like to thank and many people don't think about this when they're asked to write a speech on behalf of their peers, but I want to thank this graduating class." There was becoming to not be a dry eye in the general area as he continued, "We never always got along, but we always had each other's back. From senior sunrise to kickoff this school year to last night's senior sunset to close it out. From most of our kindergarten years to our senior years, this graduating class made it easier to come to this mandatory education every single day. So thank you."

"To close my speech out, I was watching that 90's sitcom with my uncle last night because neither one of could sleep, the teacher guy, I think his name was Mr. Feeny, he said something that has stuck with me throughout today, he said, 'Believe in yourselves. Dream. Try. Do good.' And as we go out and off into our separate paths in life. That's what I challenge my graduating class to do. Believe in yourselves, Anchor Beach Community Charter School Class of 2014! Dream! Try! Do good!" He finished his speech by saying one more thing, "We weren't made to do mediocre, so go out and change the world." He through his pointer finger out and pointed to his graduating class, "I believe in each and every single one of you."

"To us and to our future!" He ended with his fist up in the air, earning a roar from his fellowing graduating class. "Congratulations to each and every single one of you! And thank you!"

He walked off the stage and Lena took the podium again, "It's hard to believe that he's the same boy that came into Anchor Beach and barely said a word," she joked.

* * *

><p>Celebration parties for the Adams Foster family always seemed to end up at Ben's house along the ocean. Neither Stef nor Lena minded.<p>

Ben was behind the barbecue when Mike approached him, "So," the older man said, "introducing my kid to the beauty of Boy Meets World, huh?" he asked.

Ben chuckled, "Neither one of us could really sleep." He admitted. "And reruns were on. I grew up with Mr. Feeny being a better father figure than my own father was."

"Frank was a good man though," Mike said. "Despite his flaws."

"Yeah," Ben said focusing on the cooking, talking about his dad always was a sore spot for him considering their last conversation being about how hypocritical Frank was when it came to his faith. Little did he know, Stef's last conversation with their shared father was basically to take the car and shove it.

"Thanks for being a good role model to my kids for the last couple of months." Mike then said, "It means a lot."

"Yeah definitely," he said. "Thanks for warming up to the idea of letting Stef let me be around your kids."

"For sure," Mike said. "So I hear you're a Dodgers fan."

Ben chuckled, "Born and pretty much raised in LA." He said, "You a Padres fan?"

"Oh god no," he said. "Frank was a good man, but like I said he had his flaws. Dodgers all the way," he said punching Ben's shoulder playfully.

"I knew there was a reason why I liked you." Ben said with a soft smile.

Mike chuckled, "Yeah, next time the boys in blue are in town, let's go to a game." He said.

"It looks like Brandon will be in LA when I bought tickets for me, Stef, and the boys. So his ticket is up for grabs, if you want it."

Mike nodded, "Yeah, cool" He said. "Count me in."

Ben nodded and continued cooking.

* * *

><p>Laughter filled the backyard as the night progressed on, Brandon and Callie had left for the Anchor Beach grad night, but the family was still laughing and having a good time.<p>

Ben slipped inside to get another beer and everybody saw Emily watching him walk in.

"Y'know honey," Sharon said, "the longer you just stare at him and not tell him how you feel, the longer it's going to hurt you."

"I'm not hurt," Emily said with everybody giving her the 'cut the bs' look, "I'm learning how to be patient."

"And that's all fine and good baby sister," Lena said, "but you need to talk to him about how you feel."

"I don't want to be rejected." She said. "So I'm good holding it in."

"Whatever you say little sister," Stef said. "Being honest is the only way you can take care of you."

As they fell back into small conversation, Ben came out of the house looking extremely pale, "What's going on bro?" Stef asked watching him.

"My mama had a heart attack." He managed to get out. "I gotta get to LA."

* * *

><p><strong>AN2:** Sorry about that little cliffhanger. Among everything else, I want to explore Stef and Ben's relationship getting a little deeper as well as Lena and Ben's, and speeding up the pace of him and Emily getting together a little. I have things in mind.

I hope you stick with me as the story takes a minor shift into a deep next couple of chapters.


	10. The Road To Living Once

**A/N:** This chapter begins exactly where last chapter ended, except you get to see the phone call Ben received and obviously what happens right after that.

Thank you again for the support and for sticking with me.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Ten: The Road To Living Once<strong>

Laughter filled the backyard as the night progressed on, Brandon and Callie had left for the Anchor Beach grad night, but the family was still laughing and having a good time.

Ben slipped inside to get another beer, unaware of the conversation going on about him out there. As he grabbed his second Sam Adams from the refrigerator, he felt his phone vibrate. He looked to see who it was and was surprised to see his brother calling him. Especially on a Friday night when he's usually out with his boyfriend and their friends.

"Hey Leo," Ben said. "What's up?"

_"Mama had a heart attack." The teenage boy said frantically._

"What?" Ben asked in a hurry. "When?"

_"Just now, I guess. I just got a call from Mom telling me to meet her, Leah, and Mama at the UCLA Medical Center because Mama had a heart attack. She also told me to call you."_

"The UCLA Medical Center?" Ben asked to clarify.

_"Yeah, I'm on my way now." Leo said._

"Okay, I'll be there in two and a half hours tops." He said.

_"Sounds good." Leo said._

Ben walked out of the house looking extremely pale, "What's going on bro?" Stef asked watching him.

"My mama had a heart attack." He managed to get out. "I gotta get to LA."

"What?" Both Stef and Lena said in unison.

Ben was shaking and they both saw that, Lena immediately went to his side pulling him into a hug, "It's going to be okay." She whispered in his ear. "It's fine."

"Lena and I will drive you," Stef then said. "If you four could keep the fort down back here," Stef said to her in-laws, mother, and Mike.

"I'll come with you," Emily said, knowing that Ben would do the same for her if this was her own mother.

"Sounds good," Stef said. "You can navigate while Lena keeps him calm."

"Deal," she said.

* * *

><p>Lena handed Dana the keys to her car as Stef got Ben into the Terrian. Mike took the younger twins and the grandparents had Jude.<p>

"Call us to keep us updated," Sharon requested.

"Will do," Stef said. "When Brandon and Callie get home tomorrow morning let them know."

"Done," Sharon said. "Now get that boy to his mama."

"Equally done." She said. Stef got into the driver's seat and saw Ben curled into Lena, "Ben honey," she said, "where am I going in LA?"

"The UCLA Medical Center," he said as Stef headed towards the freeway.

Lena had her arms tightly wrapped around Ben, Emily was messing with her phone, and Stef was focused on her driving. It was quiet minus the sounds of the radio until Ben buried his face into Lena's chest and let out a choked sob.

"It's okay Ben," Lena said, "let it out. Let it go."

All that could be heard was him crying, Leo didn't have much information to give him, and Ben was just assuming the worst. When his phone rang ten minutes into the drive, he pulled his phone out of his pocket seeing that his mom was calling him.

"Mom," he got out. "How is she?"

_"She's in surgery right now, are you on your way?" Kelly asked._

"Yeah," he said. "Stef is driving."

_"Okay, alright," Kelly said. "It's okay, we've been through this before."_

"And we almost lost her the last time too," he said.

_"We aren't losing her Benji," she said, "we can't."_

"We'll-we'll be there soon." He said as Lena ran and comforting hand down his arm.

_"Okay," she said. "I love you Benji."_

"I love you too, Mom." He said before hanging up.

"This has happened before?" Stef asked from the front seat.

"Yeah," he said. "The night of my high school graduation."

"Oh honey," Lena said kissing his forehead. "I'm so sorry."

Ben buried his face into Lena's chest and the car fell silent, Stef had to fill up the car with gas so she pulled off the freeway and as she did that Emily got out of the car to get some air.

"Hey little sister," Stef came around and put her arms around the lawyer. "What's going on?"

"What if something happens to either one of us before we have a chance to get together?" She asked quietly as she looked in the back of the car to see Lena still comforting and slightly distraught Ben.

"Oh honey," Stef said.

"I know I shouldn't be thinking about that right now because he has major things going on, but that's all that's on my mind currently."

"Em," Stef said brushing curls out of her face, "it's okay. It's fine."

"I just needed some air," Emily said as she leaned forward into Stef's chest, "Sometimes my thoughts get overwhelming."

"Well you let me know if they get overwhelming again, yes?" Stef said, "Just get me attention and I'll do the best I can to help you through." Emily nodded as the gas pump popped. Emily let go of Stef and got into the car.

Lena had managed to get Ben to take a small nap, knowing that he might not sleep tonight, "You okay sissy?" Lena asked.

"I will be," she said.

"What's wrong honey?" Lena asked leaning forward and placed her hand on the woman's shoulder.

"It's not important right now Lena," she said as Stef got into the car. "We'll talk about it later."

"Okay," Lena said not pushing the subject.

"Alrighty folks," Stef said, "let's get this show on the road. How's the big guy doing back there?"

"I got him to go to sleep for a little while, since we know it's going to be a long night." Lena said gesturing to the deadweight on her shoulder.

"Aww," Stef said grabbing her phone and taking a picture, "if I didn't know any better I'd say mother and son."

Lena softly smiled to her wife, but then a pang went into her heart, she's always wanted to carry a baby, but then she met Stef who already had Brandon and Callie and then Jesus and Mariana came along and then Jude not all that long ago. They couldn't afford a baby. They have five kids, sure two of them were moving out and going on these separate journeies, but she knew that she and Stef couldn't afford a little helpless child who needed them.

"I was 16 when he was born," Lena said, "please don't tell me that you're endorsing teenage pregnancies."

Stef let out a chuckle, "It was a joke my love. Just a joke." She said.

Lena looked down at the sleeping man on her shoulder and ran fingers through his hair. She was thankful that he was letting her in even just a little. To trust her enough to hold him in his most vulnerable position made her proud.

* * *

><p>When they got to the UCLA Medical Center, Ben still hadn't heard anything from his mom or siblings. He practically ran up to the ICU to meet them.<p>

"Mom," he said running into the room and crashing into her in a hug.

"Hi Benji." She said softly.

He pulled back and brushed some hair out of her face, "How are things?" He asked as Stef, Lena, and Emily came out of the elevator.

"She's still in surgery." She said, "We're waiting to hear from the doctor." She said running her hands up and down his dress shirt. None of them had changed from the graduation. "You look nice," she said referring to his dress shirt and dress slacks, "You weren't working tonight were you?"

"Uh no," he said looking over his shoulder at his sister, sister-in-law, and Emily. "Brandon and Callie graduated from Anchor Beach tonight."

"Oh," Kelly said running her hand through her hair. "Your siblings want to see you."

Ben looked up and saw the two staring at him, he opened his arms wide and Leah all, but flew into his embrace, "Hi," he said to his little sister who was crying into him.

"Big brother," she sobbed and in that moment, Ben was glad that he got all his emotions out when he was in Lena's arms in the car, he had to pull himself together for his family.

"It's going to be okay," he assured. "It's going to be okay."

"I can't lose another one," Leah mumbled.

"And you won't," Ben assured as she left his embrace so he could hug Leo, "Hey bud." He said.

"Ben," he breathed. "She can't die."

"She's not going to die, buddy." He said hugging him.

"The last conversation I had with her was an arguement. Like you and your dad. I can't let that happen to me and Mama."

"It won't I promise." He said. "What were you arguing about?"

"My future. I-I applied for West Point," he said. "Mama didn't like the sound of the idea."

As Ben tried to calm both of his siblings down Kelly turned to Stef, Lena, and Emily, "Thanks for getting him here safely."

"Any time, seriously." Stef said taking a seat. "He's a good kid."

"I apologize for taking you away from your family," Kelly said. "I'm sure you'd rather be spending it with your graduates tonight than here in a hospital in LA."

"Our graduates got on a bus at 9:00pm to come this way to Disneyland anyway." Stef said. "And our other kids are probably being spoiled by their grandparents right now."

"We just want to make sure Ben is okay," Lena said sitting next to her wife.

"Yeah, we've taken a liking to him." Stef said.

Kelly smiled and then turned to Emily, "And you must be Emily," she said.

Emily nodded and stuck out her hand, "Lena and Stef's baby sister, a friend and company lawyer to Ben." She said.

"From the way he talks about you, I'd say you were more than just a friend and company lawyer." Kelly said.

"We'll eventually get there," Emily said. "Neither one of us wants to screw it up."

"Well, it's nice to finally meet you." Kelly said shaking her hand.

"I wish the circumstances were better," Emily said with a sympathetic smile.

"Are you three ladies going to stay?" Kelly asked.

"That was the plan," Stef said putting her arm around Lena as the principal put her head on the cop's shoulder. "If that's okay?"

"Oh yeah, definitely." Kelly said. "Uh, if you get hungry, the cafeteria is down a floor and the good bathrooms are over there." She pointed in the direction where they all came. "I work here," she said to Emily when the lawyer gave her a confused look.

Emily nodded, "Oh okay." She said.

Just as she was done talking a doctor came out, "Doctor Wright-Carlson?"

"Yes, yes?" Kelly jumped up with her three kids close behind. "How is she?"

"She barely made it through surgery," he said. "She's barely stable. We have her in recovery, but she may not make it out of recovery."

"Can we see her?" Kelly asked wrapping her arm around Leah's shoulder.

"Of course, uh, immediate family only in the room though." He said primarily looking at Ben.

"I'm her son, her stepson, but still nonetheless her son." Ben said calmly.

"He is immediate family." Kelly said placing her free hand on his shoulder.

"Okay, this way." The doctor said leading the family back leaving Stef, Lena, and Emily alone.

"It's sad that we live in a world where stepchildren aren't really considered family unless their biological parent says that they are." Stef said rubbing her hand up and down Lena's arm as Emily sat on the other side of the blonde.

"Yeah," Lena said, "I would want Brandon and Callie in the room to see me."

"Callie would make sure she could be in the room, she's definitely a Mama's girl." Stef said kissing the woman's head.

"She really is," Emily said. "She does pretty much anything you asked her too."

"I do love that girl so much," Lena said.

"Why does she do practically whatever you say?" Emily asked.

"I'm not sure exactly, but it may have to do with a conversation we had one night when Mike was doing a guys night with Brandon and Stef worked the night shift."

_Flashback._

It was a Thursday night, Mike had Brandon, Stef was at work, leaving Callie with Lena. The girl had been oddly quiet all night and Lena had originally thought it was because it was her first night alone with the woman, but little did she know, it was for other reasons.

But after dinner, Lena was sitting on the couch, and Callie poked her head out, "L-lena?" She said.

"Yes, sweetheart?" Lena said looking up from her book that she was reading.

"I was wondering if," she stopped and brought her lip between her teeth.

"What honey?" Lena said softly.

"Every time Brandon has a guys night, my mommy always cuddles with me, but since she's working tonight, I-I was wondering if you and I could." Lena stared at the girl, maybe a little too long because Callie then said, "If not that's okay, I just thought I'd ask."

"No, no, honey." Lena said, spreading her arms, "c'mere." Callie didn't need to be told twice as she crawled into her mother's girlfriend's arms. The two sat in silence for awhile before Callie's body shook as she held in a sob, "What's wrong honey?" She said so softly that Callie let her tears out. Lena rocked the two back and forth for awhile successfully calming the girl down.

"You aren't here to replace Daddy are you?" She finally asked.

"What? No, honey. Not at all," Lena said holding the girl tighter.

"They're getting divorced aren't they?" Callie said.

Lena's eyes widened, Stef had yet to tell the twins about her divorcing Mike, "How did you know that?"

"I heard Mommy say something when I couldn't sleep, I was lying in bed when I heard her say that divorcing Daddy was the hardest thing she's ever had to do."

"Oh honey," Lena said wrapping her arms tighter around the girl. "I got you. I got you."

Callie cried for twenty minutes before she her crying settled into sniffles, it was another five minutes before she asked, "Are you going to leave us too?"

Lena's heart broke as she kissed the top of the girl's head before answering, "Never planning on it, sorry baby. You're stuck with me forever."

"I kind of like that," Callie admitted.

"What's that baby?" Lena asked holding her close to her chest.

"You being here forever," Callie answered. "You helped me when my arm was broken. Sometimes I do want you over my mommy," Callie said looking down, not making eye contact.

"And that's okay," Lena said kissing her forehead. "That's perfectly okay."

_End Flashback._

"We kind of made a silent vow after that to always be understanding to one another," Lena said after telling the story. "The older twins really were broken after you and Mike split up."

"I never thought of that," Stef said. "Why have you never told me about this?"

"It was my moment to share with Callie," Lena said. "You share a lot of moments with all of our kids that I don't know about. Just like I do."

"I guess that's true." Stef said playing with Lena's curls.

* * *

><p>Ben walked into the recovery room with his family. They had been warned that there was an oxegyn tank keep Payton alive. The lawyer was have concious when they all got there.<p>

"Hi family," Payton said weakly.

"Hi Mama," Leah said clutching onto Leo's hand.

"Hi baby," Kelly said immediately at her side.

"Hi Mama," Ben said. "How're you feeling?"

"As okay as I can possibly be right now," she said. "Hi baby boy," she said to Leo. "C'mere."

"Mama," he breathed slowly coming forward. "I love you."

"I love you too." She said hugging him as best as she could. "Whether or not you get into West Point, we'll be there."

Ben smiled at how small the 17 year old looked in their mama's arms and Leah was on the other side.

Kelly was still at her wife's side and for once the family of five was a real family again and in that moment, Ben couldn't help, but think about Emily and how maybe waiting until he got his life together wasn't the way to go about doing this whole relationship thing.

* * *

><p>By the time Ben came out of the ICU recovery room, the sun was starting to rise over Santa Monica. He came out to see Lena asleep on Stef's shoulder and Stef nursing a cup of hospital coffee and Emily nowhere to be found.<p>

"How is she?" Stef asked when he sat down next to her.

"Stable, a lot better than when we went in. She's going to have to take it easy for awhile. She had extremely low blood pressure. Probably from overworking."

"But, she's going to live?" Stef asked.

"Yeah," he said. "Her body is responding the way it should to everything."

"That's good," she said.

"You guys didn't have to stay." Ben said. "I know tomorrow is Brandon and Callie's graduation party."

"Lena's parents and my mom have that handled. Not to mention Mike." Stef said. "If you were to of lost your second parent in six months, I'm not sure if I would want you to handle it alone, I know for sure that Lena wouldn't have that."

"I do have a family here too," he said. "I wouldn't have handled it alone."

"You would've been the rock," Stef said put her coffee down and wrapped her free arm loosely around the man. "And we want you to know that we're here no matter what."

"I know that," he said. "I really do." Stef kissed her brother's temple. "Where's Emily?"

"She went to get something to eat not all that long ago," Stef said. "Why?"

Ben sighed, "Maybe waiting until I have everything together isn't the greatest tactic." He said. "Maybe if she's right that we can face these demons together."

"What made you think of this?" Stef asked.

"I watched my little brother fear that the last conversation that he had with our mama was an argument. Fearing that it would end for him like it ended for me with our dad." Ben said placing his head on his sister's shoulders.

"You too, huh?" Stef said kissing the top of his head.

"What do you mean?" Ben asked.

"The car Lena drives was given to us by Dad, but at first I wouldn't have it." She said playing with one of Lena's curls as the woman slept on her shoulder. "My last words to him were to basically take the car and shove it."

"Better than my last words," Ben said.

"What happened?" Stef asked.

"We were arguing about how he was keeping me a secret from you and how he was ashamed of me." He said trying to keep himself together remembering that night.

_Flashback._

"I don't even understand why I know about your daughter, but she has knows nothing about me. How is that fair?" Ben said.

"Why so she could throw my faith back in my face and tell me how much of a hypocrite that I am?" Frank argued back.

"You _are_ a hypocrite Dad." Ben said. "We live in the goddamn 21st century and you can't accept your own daughter's relationship - or _marriage._ You didn't even go to her wedding. Do you have any idea how bad she probably feels?"

"She had _everything._ A husband, a son, but then she gave it all away to be with Lena." Frank yelled. "Just like I would've taken your mother in and taken care of you both."

"Would you have, Dad?" Ben said. "Would you have taken us both in if it wasn't for Payton? Or would you be too scared to admit to your first-born child that you had another kid outside of wedlock?"

"That's not even the point." Frank said.

"Then what is, Dad? What is your goddamn point?" Ben yelled with tears in his eyes, "Since I was four and a half, all I've heard from you was how awful it was that my mom is gay and then ten years ago when Stef left her husband for her now wife, all I heard about is how she's practically a disgrace to the Elkin name. Do you want to know why I didn't add Elkin to my name when I turned 18?" He said now face-to-face with his father, "Because no matter how hard I tried, I'd _always_ be a mistake to you."

Frank looked wide-eyed at his son, "You are _not_ a disgrace to me, son." He said calmly.

"Then why haven't I met my sister? Why haven't I met her family? Huh? What's so bad about admitting that you made a mistake, but you owned up to it? Huh?"

"It's not that simple, son." Frank said looking at his son with tears in his eyes.

"What's not simple?" Ben argued, "Going to your daughter with your hat in your hand saying that I made a mistake 23 years ago and had unprotected sex, got a woman pregnant, and four and a half years later, started making up for it?" Frank stared at his son with the tears in his eyes rolling down his face and had the silence last for maybe a little too long because then Ben said, "That's what I thought, you're unbelievable."

The man picked his jacket off the chair and left the house, effectively slamming the door behind him. He was beyond mad and just needed to cool off, but when he got the call from Mariana a few days later, he realized that he might have waited too long because now he could never make up with his father.

_End Flashback._

"And when Mariana called me a few days later, I knew I was too late," he said remembering that painful conversation he had with Mariana.

_Flashback._

Ben was working on something for the website early one morning. He was attempting to concentrate knowing that he was going to go make up with his father that afternoon, but it seemed like everybody needed him.

"Hey," one of his business partners, Raider said, "did you happen to get a copy of the monthly budget report?"

"Do I look like our accountant?" He asked sarcastically not looking up from what he was doing.

"I was just curious man," Raider said. "Lighten up. You've been tense for the last few days is everything alright? Are you and Mom arguing again? You haven't been like this since the law suit against the Times."

Ben chuckled, Raider who was kicked out of his house at 17 for getting his now wife pregnant called Kelly mom and Payton mama, he would consider calling Frank dad if he wasn't so uptight.

"No," he answered. "My dad and I are actually arguing."

"Really?" Raider asked. "About what if I may ask."

"About how much he's a hypocrite." Ben answered drinking his coffee. "He basically all, but disowned his daughter for being gay and what it seems like happily married to her wife, but how because of that he's ashamed of me and won't introduce us."

"Wow," Raider said running his hand through his mid-length hair. "That sucks."

"Yeah," Ben said as his cellphone rang. "Imagine how I feel." He added looking at the number, "who is this?" He asked himself as he looked at the number he didn't recognize, he answered with his grown up professional voice, "This is Benjamin Carlson, how can I help you?"

_"Hi, uh, my name is Mariana and I was calling to let you know that Frank Elkin died."_

Ben's eyes widened, "I'm sorry?"

_"We have his address book here and you were in it, we figured you were in his life, so we thought we'd let you know that he passed away yesterday afternoon."_

"Uhh okay, wow. Um, is there going to be like a memorial service or whatever he wanted?" Ben asked trying to act like he didn't know his own father that well.

_"Yes, uh, it's going to be Saturday at 11:00am at Mount Hope Christian Fellowship." Mariana said._

Ben could tell that the girl on the other line was trying to keep herself together, "Well thank you, uh what did you say your name was again?"

_"Mariana." She answered. "I was his granddaughter."_

"Well thank you for the call, Mariana." Ben said running a shaky hand through his hair.

_"You're welcome," Mariana said. "Have a good day."_

"You too," Ben said hanging up after saying goodbye and he threw his phone on the desk and looked out his office window.

"What's going on man?" Raider asked cautiously.

Raider has known Ben since preschool, they went through elementary school and middle school together, but when Ben was on the fast-track to graduate at 15, they weren't as close, but when Raider finished his BA in three years, they got closer, but not close enough for him to watch his friend of close to 20 years breakdown right in front of him. Ben slid to the sitting position crying into his dress pants.

Raider went to sit next to the man and reasked his question, "Bro, what's going on?"

"My dad, he died." Was all that Ben could get out.

"Oh man, I'm so sorry." Raider said after just hearing about their last conversation.

"You think I could get a minute? Y'know to pull myself together before our all staff meeting?" Ben asked in a small voice that Raider had never heard before.

"Of course," Raider said standing up from the chair he sat in when Ben was on the phone.

Raider left Ben in his office alone were the man just silently cried for a few minutes before getting up, slipping unnoticed into the bathroom, and slashing water on his face before going into the conference room to do the all staff meeting."

_End Flashback._

"That's why I don't think waiting until I get my act together before getting together with Emily is a good thing." He said standing up. "I guess if she can't take me as I am, then it isn't meant to be."

"I'm proud of you bro." Stef said, "Go get your girl."

Ben nodded and started walking in the direction of the cafeteria and then he turned back, "And for the record, everything Dad said about you, isn't true. Your love to Lena and your kids gives me hope."

Stef smiled with tears in her eyes to her brother as she whispered, "Thank you."

* * *

><p>Emily was nursing a cup of coffee in the cafeteria looking at the sunrise over Santa Monica outside the windows of the UCLA Medical Center.<p>

"That was my only favorite part about studying in here." Ben said making Emily's eyes go from the sunrise to him.

"Yeah, it's beautiful." Emily said. "The coffee could be a little better though."

"Yeah, that was one of the downsides about always studying here." He said. "This room was my home away from home during undergrad."

Emily nodded and looked at him, "How's your mama?" She asked.

Ben nodded, "Stable, she's going to have to slow down a little," he answered.

"That's always good news." Emily said.

"I know things with my mama may have caused this, but you've been a little distant since last night," he said. "Is everything okay between us?"

"Yeah, of course." Emily said. "I just know you needed space, I was going to be here when you were ready to talk and whatnot."

Ben smiled as one of the kitchen staff saw him and put coffee in front of him, "Benji," the woman said, "it's been awhile. I hear your mama is here."

"Yeah," he said. "She'll be good as new as soon as she recovers."

"That's good to hear." The woman said. "The coffee is on us."

"Thank you, Ms. Goodman." He said smiling softly up at her, "I appreciate it."

"Who is this young woman?" The woman asked.

"Uh this is Emily Adams, a really good friend of mine. Emily, this is Ms. Goodman, she's been on kitchen staff here as long as my mom's been working here."

"It's really nice to meet you, Ms. Goodman." Emily said.

"Likewise," she said. "I'll let you two get back to your conversation, I just wanted to give you some coffee and say hi. It was nice meeting you young lady. You take care of this one," she added.

"I will, thank you." Emily said. "It was nice meeting you too."

The woman walked away and Ben said, "Look, I don't want to wait anymore."

"What do you mean?" Emily asked.

"I mean, if I'm going to walk through this dark valley, I want you there with me, holding my hand, getting through it with me." Ben said. "I realized some time between Leo calling me and seeing my moms together again tonight that we have this one life. And I don't want to spend it regretting that I didn't get to you sooner."

"What are you saying?" Emily asked.

"I'm saying, can you and I give it a try?" He asked, "Will you Emily Mae Adams, be my girlfriend?"

Emily smiled and leaned forward and softly kissed him, "I thought you'd never ask." She said resting her forehead against his.

He kissed her one more time before saying, "Stef and Lena are going to make fun of us big time."

Emily smiled, "Yeah, they are, but I think I can handle that."

* * *

><p>When Ben and Emily returned to the ICU waiting room holding hands, they saw Lena awake and drinking the rest of Stef's crappy hospital coffee. Stef was the first one to see them and said, "About damn time."<p>

Lena looked up from the coffee at the younger couple and smiled, "Couldn't you two hold out just for another month or two?" She joked.

"Huh?" Both Ben and Emily said as they saw Lena fishing out her wallet and handing Stef twenty bucks.

"You two were betting against when we would get together?" Ben asked incredulously.

"That sounds like something you two would do," Emily said.

"Yeah, it was twenty bucks and a month of nightly back rubs for Stef if you two got together before the summer started or ended or vice versa if it was after the summer, but before the end of the year was over." Lena answered.

"So which one of you do I have to thank?" Stef said putting her arm around her wife.

"What do you mean?" Ben asked. "It was a mutual decision and you knew I was going to go do it." He added looking at Stef.

"You did?" Lena asked accusingly.

Stef nodded, "I did," she said cockily. "That's _two_ months of nightly back rubs, my dear."

"There was more to this bet?" Emily asked as she and Ben sat across from the couple.

"Yeah, if Ben asked it was two months, if you asked it was just one. It was more of him growing a pair to ask." Stef said.

"You two are unbelievable." Ben said. "Betting against your siblings' love life." He shook his head.

"What can we say?" Stef asked. "You two are just so freaking adorable together," she said with Lena nodding in agreement.

The four shared a small laugh as they all sat in the waiting room for a little while longer before Kelly came out and told them all that they should head back to San Diego to get real sleep and spend more time with Lena and Emily's parents and Stef's mom.

* * *

><p><strong>AN 2:** So Ben and Emily are together now, but it's just a start to a long roller coaster ride of ups and downs. I just wanted to speed up that process to play with other arcs. All the other kids and the grandparents will be in the next chapter for Brandon and Callie's graduation party.


	11. The Road To Love

**A/N:** Thank you so much for your support. Much appreciated.

**Warning Note:** Mention of past domestic violence is mentioned in small detail in this chapter and statutory rape is briefly mentioned, no detail. I apologize in advance if it triggers anybody.

We're mainly getting to know Ben and Emily in this chapter, but don't worry, before Callie goes off to college, we'll have a family scene again. I just want to peel back the layers of Benjamin Carlson and Emily Adams for a chapter. :)

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Eleven: The Road To Love<strong>

When the four arrived back to the Adams Foster house, it was already well known that Ben and Emily were together. The jokes went around about how it's about time and freaking adorable they were together. Ben was sitting in the kitchen nook when Brandon stumbled into the room with a goofy looking grin on his face.

The teenager plopped down next to the man and said, "So, you and Aunt Emily, huh?"

Ben looked up from his phone where he was watching a Dodger game quietly away from his sister, "Uh yeah," he said to his nephew. "It's officially official," he said in a joking matter.

"What are you watching?" Brandon asked curiously.

"The Dodger-Mets game, but since we're not in LA and the Padres are playing the Giants, I have to watch it on my phone and I don't want your mother and my sister to know because I don't need to be made fun of."

"She just does it because she loves you," Brandon said softly.

Ben sighed, "Yeah, I know," he said.

"May I ask you something?" Brandon asked.

"Sure," Ben said, closing out of the app that the game was playing on, talking with his nephew was more important.

"This whole LA thing with my band, do you think it's a good idea?" Brandon asked. "I mean, I've never known a world without my parents and Callie."

Ben smiled, he remembered the same conversation with his mama right before he left for San Diego to Los Angeles.

"Y'know, I had the same question when I moved here full time." Ben said wrapping a protective arm around his nephew. "I never knew a world without my mom every week. I had gotten used to going to my dad's on the weekend, but I was always back in LA by Sunday night."

"Yeah?" Brandon said, somewhat intrigued by how much his uncle's story related to him currently.

Ben nodded, "And then the night before I moved into the dorms, I was sitting in my room playing video games and my mama came in and we had a similar conversation."

"What did she say to you?" Brandon asked.

"That there's 121 miles between Los Angeles and San Diego, there's video chat, and a telephone. And that if I don't take this opportunity to chase after my dreams, I'll never do it."

"So what are you telling me?" Brandon asked.

"That I want my arts and entertainment editor and reporters talking about Someone's Little Sister on _The Opinionated Buzz_ by the end of the year."

"Wow, the pressure." Brandon said.

"I've heard your guys' demo." Ben said, "You're good kid. This band has potential to be good. You just need to believe."

Brandon smiled, "Thanks Uncle Ben," he said. "You're so wise, y'know?" He said.

"I try to learn from life experiences," Ben said. "Makes you a better person. More than just a tolerable person in society."

Brandon smiled and nodded, "I'll let you get back to your game," he said as Stef walked in.

"What game?" Stef asked raising an eyebrow.

"The Dodger-Mets game," Brandon said passing his mom giving her a kiss on the cheek, "Go easy on him." He said softly.

Stef smiled and sat down next to her brother and put her head on his shoulder, "Hey Stef," Ben said wrapping his arm around her shoulders while resting his head on top of hers.

"Hi Ben," Stef said looking down at his phone where the game was on. "Dodgers winning?"

"Yeah 9-2, top of the eighth." He said before looking at her, "Why?" He asked curiously.

"Just curious," she said.

Ben looked at her curiously, "So what's up?" He asked.

"Just wanted to check in, see how things were." Stef said.

Ben slowly rubbed his hand up and down, "I'm fine." He said. "I got a call from my mom, they're transferring my mama out of the ICU this afternoon."

"That's good," Stef said looking into the kitchen to see Lena and Emily talking about something, "In all seriousness, I'm proud of you."

Ben chuckled as he watched the outfielder for the Dodgers hit a grand slam, "What for?" He asked.

"Asking Emily out," she said.

Ben shrugged, "I'm just glad she said yes," he said, "well technically she said yes." He smiled remembering the words coming out of her mouth, "She actually said, _'I thought you'd never ask.'_ After she kissed me."

Stef smiled at how Lena said the exact same thing when she proposed to her in the hospital bed, "Sisters," she murmured.

"What do you mean?" Ben asked turning off the game to give his sister his full undivided attention.

"When I proposed to Lena those were the exact words that came out of her mouth." Stef said. "Sisters," she murmured again.

"Yeah," he said with a faint smile, "sisters."

"You better be good to her though," Stef said. "If you're not, I'll kick your ass."

"You're protective of her," he mentioned. "Not that it's a bad thing, but why?"

"That's her story to tell," she said, looking into the kitchen to see that Emily was now cuddled into Lena's arms.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, in the kitchen, the sisters were sitting drinking a cup of coffee. It was rare that they got to catch up like they were now. There was 13 years between the woman, so Lena practically raised her sister, even when she was in college when her parents worked long hours. It bonded them close together.<p>

"So," Lena said, "you happy?"

Emily nodded, "I am," she said. "I honestly thought I would have to wait until the end of the year."

"He's a good guy," Lena said looking over her sister's shoulder to see both Ben and Stef cuddled in the kitchen nook.

"He really is," Emily said looking into her coffee.

"You know that Stef and I are still here for him and that you won't ever have to deal with whatever demons are inside of him alone, yes?"

"Yes sissy," Emily murmured. "I know. I just hope it doesn't turn out like the whole Alex situation."

Lena sighed, during law school, Emily dated a fellow law student named Alex, and at first he seemed like an okay guy. He came around a couple of times, both Lena and Stef felt something off about him and when they shared their concerns with Emily, she dismissed them. But there was a six month period of time where they hadn't heard from her at all. At first they played it off as the three of them were busy, but finally something in Lena's gut didn't feel right. Then when the situation reached Emily's breaking point, the young woman came running back to both her sister and sister-in-law and for the six months following, Emily rarely left Stef and Lena's side.

"You know that Stef will kick his ass if he lays a finger on you," Lena said coming around to wrap her arm around her baby sister. "I know it's scary." She whispered into her sister's ear. "To let people in when the first time you ever did, you got hurt. And I'm so sorry you had to go through that, but Ben isn't that guy."

"I should've listened to you." Emily said into Lena's shoulder. "I should've-"

"Hey now," Lena whispered into her baby sister's ear, "none of that. It's in the past now."

"Why is your and Stef's arms the safest place to be in?" Emily asked.

"Not sure," Lena said, "but it's nice to have you back in my arms."

"I feel like being in this position with Stef is how she and I became sisters," Emily said softly.

_Flashback._

"Lena!" A 18 year old version of Emily came running into the Adams Foster home, "Lena!" She cried again.

Both Lena and Stef poked their heads out of the kitchen where they were most likely making out like teenagers before they heard the cry of Emily Mae Adams.

"Honey," Lena said, "what's wrong?"

When the couple got to the distraught girl, they saw her limping and a black eye, Stef's defenses went up, "What happened?" Stef asked firmly.

"Stef," Emily said, "I-I didn't know you were here."

"It's my day off," Stef said, "What happened?" Stef asked again slowly.

"Emily honey," Lena said softer than her wife's question, "what happened?"

"He hurt me," Emily breathed.

Lena immediately wrapped her sister in her arms and whispered that it was okay, that he wasn't going to hurt her again. Stef was trying to calm herself down before she got to sister-in-law. When the blonde did calm down, she crouched in front of where the two sisters were sitting.

"Emily," she said softly, "could you look at me?" Emily buried her face further into Lena's chest and shook her head. "Honey," Stef breathed. "Please?" She asked again.

"Stef isn't going to hurt you sissy." Lena whispered, "She just wants to help."

Emily slowly made eye contact with Stef before the police officer asked, "How long?"

"Six months," Emily answered.

Stef took a deep breath and then said, "We're going to have to report it and until we can get a restraining order and him in jail, we are going to need you to stay here with us, okay?"

"But, what about my stuff?" Emily asked, "He moved in with me three months ago."

"Let me deal with that," Stef said, "but let _us_ take care of _you._"

"Don't fight her honey," Lena said.

Emily looked at her sister's girlfriend of three years. They pretty much were married in her mind, Emily liked Stef a lot better than Gretchen and a lot better than any other woman her sister had dated. In an odd way, Stef made her feel safe and wanted. Something she didn't feel after Lena left for California from the midwest with their parents.

The young woman looked with tears in her eyes at Stef and said, "Okay." As Stef kissed Emily's forehead, she added, "Just keep me safe."

Stef put her hand underneath Emily's chin and said, "I promise you that as long as I'm in love with your sister, I will keep you safe."

"Which is forever, just so you know," Lena added kissing her sister's forehead.

Emily stared into Stef's equally watery eyes and knew that in that moment, she went from sister-in-law to sister to Stef. And for the next six months, Stef always took her to school and walked her to class and Lena always picked her up from her last class and took her home.

_End Flashback._

"Yeah," Lena said, "you knew she loved you before then, she just showed it a little better after Alex."

Emily nodded and looked over her shoulder to see Ben and Stef still cuddled up in the kitchen nook, "They look so sweet together."

"Yeah," Lena said, "they act so tough for the world, but if you break them down they're really two of the softest people you'll ever meet."

* * *

><p>The next afternoon, Stef, Lena, and Mike were sitting in the kitchen across from Brandon, Lou, and the rest of the band talking details about their move to LA.<p>

"So you guys have a definite place to stay yes?" Stef asked looking specifically at Brandon who said they did.

"My uncle owns an apartment complex on the outskirts of LA," Lou said. "And got us a two bedroom, one bath unit. The three guys will take over the bigger of the two rooms and rent will be cheap."

"And studio time?" Mike asked.

"Another uncle of mine is a music producer," Lou said, "he said that he could get us in, low budget until we get off the ground. We just need to go once Brandon turns 18 to sign the record deal."

"Why do you have to wait until Brandon turns 18?" Lena asked.

"With all due respect, Mrs. and Mrs. Adams Foster, Mr. Foster," Mat stepped in gently, "we don't want to have to deal with parental agreements because he's still a minor for another month and a half."

"It's just easier if we wait until I turn 18," Brandon said. "That way I can legally live on my own and be an adult."

"That makes sense," Lena said, finding Stef's hand under the table.

"Are you sure this is what you want to do?" Mike asked Brandon.

"I've never been more sure about anything in my life." Brandon said.

Mike made eye contact with his ex wife, "Then okay," he said. "We're happy for you."

Stef smiled and nodded, "Just promise to come home as much as you can," she said.

"You do know that you have three other children and you shouldn't be getting empty nest syndrome this quickly?" Callie said walking into the room to get a water.

Everybody except Stef laughed and Lena pressed a kiss to her wife's cheek, "She has a point." She whispered. "She doesn't get it, but she has a point."

* * *

><p>The graduation party was in full swing, the Adams Foster family was surrounded by friends and family. Ben had taken over the barbecuing responsibilities from Stef so she could mingle with their guests more. Stef and Lena were talking among friends as Brandon and the band were playing. Callie was hanging out with her soccer friends and the younger twins with friends of their own. Jude was standing with Ben at the barbecue pit.<p>

"You alright buddy?" Ben asked his nephew.

"Yeah," he said. "A little bored."

"Making friends is hard, isn't it?" Ben asked as he flipped a burger over.

Jude nodded, "Yeah," he said, "none of these people are here for me though."

"Hand me the plate," Ben said as Jude handed him the plate he said, "Making friends is probably the hardest thing I did when I went to college at 15."

"Really?" Jude asked.

Ben nodded, "The average freshman was 18, if they weren't 17. I lived on campus because my dad didn't want Stef to know of my existence. So I had to really get out of my shell."

"How'd you do it?" Jude asked.

"One time at lunch, I saw this kid sitting by himself and I sat down next to him. And it turned into a friendship and a business partnership that I'll never regret. There's four of us that head up _The Opinionated Buzz._ I've known two out of three of my business partners since my years at the prep school I went to, but Levi Todd was a college buddy of mine. He was like me."

"What do you mean?" Jude asked.

"He was 15, in college, pursuing a degree in journalism and just wanted to change the world like I did." Ben said. "Sometimes all you need to do is just take a step of faith and sit next to that kid at school who doesn't have a friend. Good things could come out of it."

"I'll have to remember that when school is back in session." Jude said smiling a little at his uncle.

"Sometimes you gotta be vulnerable and stick yourself out there long enough for luck to find you," Ben said. "It's not always going to be easy, but it'll be worth it."

Jude smiled as Ben ruffled his hair and continued scooping burgers onto a plate.

* * *

><p>Later that evening, Ben was sitting with Emily on the back porch swing. Emily was cuddled underneath Ben's arm and he was playing with her curls.<p>

"Can I talk to you about something?" Emily asked.

"Of course," he said, gently kissing her forehead.

"I've never been good at this," she began, "relationships. Stef and Lena could tell you that."

"Stef said that if I hurt you that she'll kick my ass," he said. "What happened?"

"When I was in law school, I had to take this boring family law class. I mean it was insightful, if I wanted to be a family lawyer, but it was boring. My focus was business and corporate law. And I met this guy his name was Alexander Rogers. He seemed so sweet and like he wouldn't hurt me. Stef and Lena warned me not to date him, but I did anyway. He uh physically abused me and ever since then I've had these one nights stands or short term relationships to try to mask the pain away. But, it didn't help. Stef and Lena are protective. And even that's the understatement of the century. But, they care. She just doesn't want to see me where they saw me seven years ago."

"And they won't," Ben said, "because I'm not going to lay a finger on you to harm you. I'm not that kind of guy."

"I know you're not," Emily said, "but you should know that, I'm scared as hell."

"About us?" Ben asked and she nodded. "Me too."

"You are?" Emily asked.

"Sometimes I wonder if you're even good enough for me." He said. "How I managed to still your heart and your feelings when I'm not all that great as it is."

"That's not true," Emily said. "You are good enough for me."

"I don't feel like it sometimes." Ben said.

"What was your last real relationship like?" Emily asked.

"I was battling the rape in me, my mom didn't even know." Ben said.

"How did your dad know, but your mom didn't?" Emily said.

"I was practically an emancipated minor without the legal paperwork." Ben said. "We were in the process of emancipating me at the time of the rape."

"Oh," Emily said. "Continue."

"Her name was Mariah," he continued. "I was 19 and she was 18. We had a journalism class together and I hadn't dated anyone ever. I was kind of an innocent nerdy kid. You're only the second girl I've ever dated. But, she and I dated for over a year, but she broke up with me because I was taking things too slow. And it kind of broke me because I did put my heart out on the line for her. And she just packed up and left."

"I won't do that," Emily promised. "I won't pack up and leave."

"I know you won't because I'm pretty sure Stef and Lena would kick your ass if you did." Ben said kissing her forehead.

"They'll keep us both in line," Emily said.

"That they will," Ben said, holding Emily closer.

Little did they know that both Stef and Lena were standing where they couldn't see them in the kitchen nook listening to their conversation, smiling that the young couple was being honest with each other. Lena turned in Stef's arms and softly kissed her wife's lips and said, "I love you." And Stef returned the kiss and said I love you back.

Ben and Emily had layers that still needed to be pulled back for them, but this was a start to finding their way through the understanding of what people feel when they say they're in love.

* * *

><p><strong>AN2:** Not sure how I liked this chapter. It feels a little rough to me, but whatevs. It is what it is.

So recently I broke down and got a personal Twitter (because I have a professional one for work), so if you want to tweet me to talk about this story it's **FarawayLeading**. So yeah.

Anything you wanna see? Hit me up.


	12. The Road To Understanding

**A/N:** Thank you for all your support! It's midterms. And Pre-Algebra and philosophy have been taking over. I apologize.

And a double date between Ben, Emily, Stef, and Lena? You got it!

Also, just a warning (before all the hate comes my way), I _am_ adding the baby arc in here, just in a different way from the show (and no, I'm not bringing Timothy in. His character really annoyed me on the show).

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Twelve: The Road To Understanding<strong>

"The fact that we're having a mini date outside your brother's therapy appointment on the bed of his truck should tell you that we both should step up our game," Lena said to her wife.

Ben was in his third therapy session with Doctor Baylor and like both Stef and Lena promised they were always outside his appointment, in case it was intense and one of them had to drive him home.

Stef scoffed, "We have plenty of game," she said leaning over to kiss her wife before handing her a sandwich.

"I love you," Lena whispered against her wife's lips.

"I love you too," Stef said.

"How do you think he's doing?" Lena asked taking a bite of the sandwich.

"I'm not sure," Stef said. "He seemed stressed out before going in there."

"You don't think it's us do you?" Lena asked.

"What do you mean?" Stef asked.

"I mean we put a lot of pressure on him when it comes to Emily." Lena said, "You don't think we're stressing him out, do you?"

"If he is stressed out then he hasn't said anything," Stef said. "I'm not sure."

"I hope he doesn't feel like he has to be this perfect guy for Emily." Lena said, "I mean, just as long as he treats her right."

Stef nodded, this was one of the first times besides at night where they've been totally alone. Lena seemed to be a little distant from her wife since driving to LA to get Ben to Payton. And Stef was thinking maybe she was putting Ben first a little too much lately.

"Hey," Stef said softly, "are _we_ okay?"

Lena's head popped up from where she was eating her sandwich, "Of course baby," she said. "Why?"

"It's just ever since we took Ben to LA to see his mama, you've been a little distant and I was wondering if I'm putting Ben first too much again."

Lena sighed, she had been a little distant ever since Stef made the joke of how when Ben was sleeping like a deadweight on her shoulder if she didn't know any better, she'd say mother and son and that pang in her chest of never carrying a child was ignited.

"It's not you," Lena said softly, "I promise."

"Okay?" Stef said softly, "Then what is it, my love?"

"Before we start this conversation, I want you to know that we can just talk, no outcome has to come out of this conversation except that I'm just talking it out."

"Okay," Stef said raising her arm, in a silent way of asking if she could hold her wife.

Lena crawled into her wife's arms, "You remember that joke you made about me and Ben that if you didn't know any better, you'd say mother and son when he was sleeping against me?" Stef nodded, not saying anything to get her wife off track, "I just, ever since then, this pang in my heart was ignited and it makes me feel like I was missing out by not giving birth to a baby."

"Oh my love," Stef said not realizing how her joke actually got to her wife.

"And don't get me wrong, I love our five kids like I did give birth to them, it's not that. It's just-" Lena then adjusted in her wife's arms, "I wish I knew what it felt like."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Stef asked. "Why did you keep it in for the last three weeks?"

"I just thought I was crazy at first, that we had five kids who need us, three of them that need us a little more."

"Well two of our kids are moving out this month," Stef said. "And Jesus and Mariana will be out before we know it. And the house is going to seem awfully empty."

"I just don't want to add to the younger twins and Jude's insecurities." Lena said.

"What do you mean?" Stef asked playing with Lena's hair.

"When you woke up, after you asked me to marry you and asked how the kids were doing, specifically Mariana. I went out to see her sitting outside the hospital and reassured her that we still loved her and then told her that DNA doesn't make a family, love does. And I don't want to add to the insecurity that she or the other boys might have."

"Then we'll reassure them," Stef said.

"What do you mean?" Lena asked looking up at her wife.

"My love, you give up a lot for me and the kids," Stef said, "It's time that I start doing stuff for you." She pulled her wife closer, "If you want to try, then we'll try. Don't worry about the kids, I know we'll always love them just as much as we will this beautiful baby we're going to have." She stopped what she was saying to softly kiss her wife's forehead. "Besides I can't wait to see you glowing and pregnant and to have a little version of you in my arms."

Lena smiled, "How was I ever lucky to find you?" She asked.

"Oh my love, _I'm_ the lucky one." Stef said holding her wife close and kissing her forehead three times and they continued to talk about the possiblity of expanding their family.

* * *

><p>"You know the joy of us being together," Emily asked Ben that night as they were cuddled on the back porch swing at the Adams Foster residence.<p>

"What?" He asked groggily because he was half asleep.

"Double dates with Stef and Lena." Emily said casually.

Ben's eyes went wide, "I'm sorry?"

Out of nowhere, the young couple heard Stef chuckling from the inside of the house, "Glad to know that I'm not the only one being bombarded like this," the blonde called out.

"I don't do double dates," Ben said lowly.

"C'mon, would you do it for me?" Emily asked.

"And me?" Lena asked coming outside with Stef.

"If I'm doing it, you're doing it bro." Stef said.

"Fine," Ben said, "but I'm warning you, I don't dance."

"This isn't your first double date set up I take it?" Stef said sitting on the chair across from them, pulling Lena into her lap.

"This isn't my first date," Ben said, carefully eyeing the couple. Sure, he knew they loved each other, he's walked in on them making out like a couple of teenagers multiple times in the few months that he's been apart of this family, but this whole, Lena sitting on Stef's lap thing was new to him.

"It's okay," Lena said, "I know that dancing doesn't mix will with the Elkin side of the both of you. So, we won't go dancing."

"We were thinking though, like a picnic on the beach," Emily said.

"Wait a minute," Ben said, "you already knew about this?" He asked his girlfriend.

"Knew about this? Honey, this was _my_ idea," Emily said placing her head on his chest. "Lena immediately jumped on board."

Ben looked between his girlfriend and her sister and then looked at his sister, "Sorry kiddo," Stef said.

"Okay _fine._" He said, "I'll agree to this, but like I said, I don't dance and if you want to do a picnic on the beach let's at least do it at my place and I'll cook dinner."

Emily and Lena smiled, "Sounds good," the sister duo said in unison.

"So, what's going on with you two?" Ben asked, going back to noticing that the older couple was a little more touchy feely than normal.

"What do you mean?" Stef asked. Ben rose his eyebrow, "I love my wife. Do I have to have a reason why she's sitting on my lap?" Ben kept the same expression on his face. "Okay, okay." Stef gave in, "We're going to try to expand our family."

Both Ben and Emily looked at the older couple, "Like adopt again?" Emily asked.

"Actually no," Lena said, looking into the house to make sure no kids were eavesdropping. "We're going to try to get me pregnant."

The younger couple's eyes went wide, "Really?" They both asked.

"Yeah," Lena said, "nothing's set in stone yet, but we do want to try."

"How are your kids going to react?" Ben asked, "Especially the younger twins and Jude?"

"We don't know," Stef said. "Why?" She asked raising an eyebrow.

He sighed, "Before my moms adopted Leo and Leah, they tried to get my mama pregnant and I may have freaked out at the idea." He said.

"You freaked out at the idea of your mama being pregnant, but when they adopted Leo and Leah, you didn't freak out?" Stef asked trying to understand.

"I was like six when they were trying to get pregnant and they did, it's just she lost the baby. She suffered preeclampsia. Ironically because he blood sugar is really low now." He said. "I was 11 when they started to foster-adopt."

"Oh wow," Lena said. "Uh, I still have to talk with my doctor about it, but I think it should be fine."

Stef cleared her throat, "I know this is awkward, so feel free to say no, Lena and I have been talking and were wondering, if you'd be the donor." She said.

"Me?" Ben asked, "Are you sure?"

"We know that DNA doesn't make a family, but we'd like it to stay in the family if that makes sense," Lena tried to explain.

"You can totally take time to think about it," Stef said, "like we said Lena still needs to get clearance from her doctor and we should break the news to the other kids first."

"If you want me to, then yeah sure," Ben said. "Whatever you need."

"So you'd be willing to sign your parental rights away, yes?" Stef asked to clarify.

"As long as I still can be Uncle Ben," he said.

"Of course," the couple said. "That would never change," Stef assured.

"Okay then, yes," Ben said. "Just let me know when you're ready. I'd be honored."

The couple smiled, Ben really was a good guy and they were lucky to have found out about him.

* * *

><p>The next morning, the two couples were sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee when they heard the front door slam shut. Stef and Lena were about to looked to see what kid it was when they all heard Callie grumbling about something coming into the kitchen after her morning run.<p>

"Callie sweetheart," Lena said softly going over to place a hand on the girl's shoulder as she grabbed a Gatorade out of the refrigerator. Callie's shoulders were shaking, signaling to her moms, aunt, and uncle that she was crying. "Callie baby," Lena whispered. "Look at me baby." Callie turned around and looked at her mama, "Oh honey," Lena said pulling the girl into her, "What's got my slug-a-bug so upset, huh?"

Callie buried herself into Lena's chest and took in the familiar smell of her mama. She remembered the first time it brought her comfort. When she was five a broke her arm and Lena rushed her to the local emergency room because it was after hours for the doctor.

_Flashback._

Callie had been running kicking the ball trying to make a goal when she was accidentally pushed hard and landed wrong on her arm. She didn't cry bloody murder like one would expect, in fact, she didn't cry at all. Not until her mother's girlfriend of six months came running out onto the field. Not caring that she was in her work clothes and that it was kind of muddy on the field.

"Callie baby," Lena tried to coax, "are you okay?"

"Lena," she murmured. "It hurts, my arm, it hurts."

"It's okay baby." Lena cooed softly. "Let Lena see your arm." Callie held her arm out for Lena to see. It looked broken. She sighed, "Baby, I gotta get you to the emergency room."

"Nooo," Callie said. "I'm fine, I can make it through practice."

"Callie honey," Lena said softly.

Callie looked from Lena to her coach who was standing with a concerned look on his face behind Lena, "I'd listen to her kiddo." He said.

Callie looked with watery eyes at her mother's girlfriend, "Okay," the girl said softly.

Lena picked the girl up and took her to her car, "I'm gonna call your mommy on the way, okay?" She said.

"But-but, she's at work." Callie said.

"It's okay," Lena said, "She'd want to know about this." She dialed Stef's number and said, "Hi honey. Uh, I have some not so good news." Pause. "Callie may have broken her arm at soccer practice today. I'm going to take her to the ER to find out." Another pause. "Is Mike picking up Brandon for their guys night?" Third pause. "Okay, that sounds good. I'll text you when I get there okay?" Fourth pause. "Alright, I love you." Final pause. "Bye honey."

"Is-is Mommy going to come?" Callie asked in a small voice from the back seat.

"Yes Mommy is coming," Lena said softly.

"Okay," Callie said, "Are you going to stay?" She asked in the same small voice as before.

"Of course, baby." The woman said softly as she pulled into the parking lot of the emergency room and when she parked the car, she went to the back and lifted Callie up. "Alright sweetheart," Lena said, "let's get you in there."

It was over an hour before they were seen and they sat in the waiting room with Callie sitting in Lena's lap buring her face into the woman's chest. From the age of five on, Callie's comfort place was her face buried into Lena's chest. She'll never be able to explain why, but neither Lena or Stef asked.

_End Flashback._

"Baby," Lena whispered again as the tears settled down, "talk to Mama."

"I should've saw it coming," Callie mumbled.

"Saw what coming baby?" Lena asked as the other three people in the room quietly stepped out. Stef would find out from Lena later, right now, it was evident that Callie needed some Mama time.

"Aiden," she said lowly. "How distant he's been since I've gotten that scholarship. How he stopped hanging around here and with me. I should've saw it coming."

Lena kissed Callie's temple, "He broke up with you," she said more a statement than a question.

Callie nodded, "Through a text message last night," she said.

Lena sighed again, Aiden seemed like a nice kid. Came from a good family, so this surprised her. "I love you baby," Lena reiterated, "so much."

"I love you too, Mama," Callie whispered.

* * *

><p>Callie was sitting out back later that afternoon when Ben came out of the house to take a work related phone call and after he was done he sat next to Callie and loosely wrapped his arm around her shoulders.<p>

"Your mama told us what happened." He said. "Sorry."

Callie cuddled into her uncle for the first time, "His loss I guess."

Ben surprised that his niece cuddled into him wrapped his arm tighter around her shoulder, "It still must suck though," Ben said.

"He was my first everything. First boyfriend, first kiss, first well, y'know everything." She said when it was obvious that she was going to say first time. "It just sucks."

"You deserve better than that," Ben said. "Your mom is in there right now fuming. It's taking both your mama _and _Emily to keep her calm."_  
><em>

Callie chuckled, "That sounds like Mom." She said.

The two watched the sun beginning to set for awhile before Ben had to ask the question that had been bouncing around in his mind for a while now, "You seem close to your mama," Ben began, "I'd think you'd be closer to your mom and dad. What has you closer to your mama?" He asked. "Not that it's a bad thing and only if you _want_ to share," he added.

Callie chuckled, "You and my mom, so opposite, y'know?" She asked and when he gave her a confused looked she said, "Because you respect that sometimes people don't want to share things and well you know Mom."

"She just wants to help you," Ben said. "I know it's super annoying sometimes," he said. "Trust me, I know, but your moms and your dad love you. So much that they may annoy you sometimes."

"Is that how it used to be when you had three parents?" Callie asked.

He nodded his head, "Mhm and the moment I realized that I was lucky enough to have three people as worried about me was the moment I was down to two... or went up to four, depending how you look at it. Your moms get pretty worried about me sometimes."

Silence filled the backyard before Callie said, "It's weird because you're right, you'd think I'd have a special connection with my mom and dad, but my mama, she was there through everything. I remember the first time I called her Mama. Brandon had been calling her it for a few weeks at the time and I had been bouncing it around in my head for awhile, but couldn't get myself to call her that."

"What finally broke you?" Ben asked.

"I was bullied in elementary school." Callie said, "It wasn't until I hit puberty in middle school that the bullying stopped. But there was one time, it was right before we all moved in together that Lena caught two of the bullies as they were trying to shove me into a locker. And when we were in her office, after the two bullies left, I broke down crying."

_Flashback. _

"I'm really disappointed in both of you boys," Lena said to the two boys that were caught trying to shove a first-graded Callie into a locker.

"Vice Principal Adams," one of the boys said, "it wasn't what you were thinking."

"What wasn't, Mr. Miller?" Lena said to the boy, "I turned a corner to see you and Mr. Williams attempting to shove Miss Foster here into a locker, you know Anchor Beach has a zero tolerance for violence or bullying, so do you want to try that one again?"

"Whatever," he mumbled.

"Travis," the other boy said, "don't get us in more trouble than we're already in."

"Oh don't worry, Mr. Williams," Lena said, "you both get separate punishments, if that were to happen. Two day in house suspension followed by two weeks of no recess, got it?" Both the boys nodded, "Now go, I'll be calling each of your parents to let them know." The two boys got up and went into the main office to sit and wait for their parents, they knew they were going home for the rest of the day. But, Lena wanted a moment alone with Callie so as the door shut she moved next to Callie and said, "Can you look at me slug-a-bug?"

Callie slowly made eye contact with Lena, "I'm sorry." The girl said.

"What for honey?" Lena asked.

"For causing you to have misbehaving kids," she said.

"Honey, I don't care about that. It's apart of my job," Lena said. "I care about your safety."

Callie broke down crying, "I'm so tired of being made fun of Mama," she murmured softly.

Lena's eyes went wide, the girl had called her mama. This was a first.

Lena wrapped her arms around Callie, "It's okay. It's okay. Mama's got you." Lena said.

When the crying settled down to sniffles, Lena heard Callie's stomach grumble, "They took my lunch," Callie murmured. "I don't know what they did with it, but they took my lunch and I'm hungry."

"Here," Lena said pulling out her lunch, "let's share mine."

"Really?" Callie said.

"Of course honey." Lena said. "Don't want you to go hungry."

_End Flashback._

"She and I just grew close, y'know?" Callie said finishing the story. "It's nothing against my mom and dad, it's just, my mama was always there. Through everything."

"I get it." Ben said. "I really do."

And he did understand, his mama was always like an unbiased third party who still loved and cared about him and was always there for him. They were like pals almost, but in that mother-son kind of way.

* * *

><p><strong>AN2:** So yeah, not sure if I like this chapter. I hope you do. Or if not, please don't hate me too much. This kind of became a filler chapter. So the other kids will be in the next chapter, I promise. So will the double date.


	13. The Road To The First Goodbye

**A/N:** Thanks for the support!

Sorry for the delay. School has picked up a lot recently and writer's block is never fun.

The summer is ending in the Adams Foster family.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Thirteen: The Road To The First Goodbye<strong>

"I'm going to miss you, you know that?" Stef said wrapping her arm around Callie as the girl snuggled into her mother's strong embrace as they sat on the swing on the front porch together. Stef was trying to sneak some time in before Mike came and picked her up for a father-daughter date. The girl was leaving in several days for athlete move in on campus.

"I'm going to miss you too, Mom," Callie said resting her head on her shoulder. "But, there's always Skype and FaceTime."

"Yeah," Stef said kissing the top of her eldest daughter's head, "once a week?"

"I think I can swing that," Callie said. "The day may change from week to week though."

"That's fine," Stef said. "You're just my baby and with Brandon leaving in three weeks, it feels like I'm losing two of my babies in one shot."

"It's going to be so weird," Callie said, "a life without the chaos that is the Adams Foster family."

"It's going to be so weird without you baby," Stef said kissing the top of her forehead.

Lena poked her head out looking for her wife and eldest daughter and saw them cuddling on the front porch swing.

"Hey you two," Lena said. "Mind if I join?"

"Of course," the mother and daughter said at the same time as Callie made room for her mama on the other side of her.

"This is what I'm going to miss the most," Callie said, "Mamasandwiches." She murmured.

"We'll be sure to do a lot of them when you're home baby," Stef said looking lovingly over at her wife.

"I remember the first time I got to cuddle between you two," Callie said. "After coming home from the emergency room with my broken arm."

"I think that was the only time where I cried because somebody wanted me to hold them," Lena remembered with a smile.

_Flashback._

Stef, Lena, and Callie were finally home after five long hours at the emergency room. Lena offered to stay the night with them to help with Callie in the morning. Callie was asleep on Stef's lap, it had been an emotional night, she hated seeing either one of her babies in pain.

"Stef honey," Lena said, "go change out of your uniform. Let me take your baby girl for a moment."

Stef eyed Lena carefully, "You sure?" She asked her girlfriend.

"You'll be a lot more comfortable in sweats, babe." Lena said softly.

Stef sighed and roughly rubbed her face with her hand, "You're right," she said shifting Callie into the vice principal's arms. "Thanks," Stef added kissing Lena's forehead as she stood.

"You're welcome baby," Lena smiled holding Callie. The girl was like a deadweight against the woman. Lena softly kissed the top of the five year old's head which made Callie bury her face more in Lena's chest. Lena smiled because this is the most contact that the five year old girl would allow Lena to give her in one day. There was always an occasional hug, but Brandon was always the one who wants to cuddle with Lena. Callie stirred in her sleep and whimpered in pain a little, "Shh, shh, it's okay baby," Lena whispered, "it's just Lena."

"Where's Mommy?" Callie asked in a soft whimper.

"She went to go change out of her uniform," Lena said holding her a little tighter. "She'll be back in a minute." She added kissing the top of the girl's head.

Callie snuggled into Lena as far as she could, Lena somewhat surprised that the girl was consciously snuggling against her. When Stef came down a few minutes later, Lena went to shift Callie back into Stef's arms, but Callie stopped her, "Nooo," she somewhat tiredly whined, "I want the both of you."

Lena's eyes watered, it wasn't the girl hated her, but she never sought out physical contact before from anybody, but Stef.

"Okay," Stef said, "how about we move this into Mommy's room? That way if you fall asleep, it will be more comfortable than the couch." Callie nodded as the couple stood up with Callie tightly in Lena's arms. They walked down the hall and placed Callie in the middle of the bed.

Lena quickly changed into more comfortable clothes that she kept over at Stef's when they spent the night together when the twins were with Mike.

The three of them lied there in a comfortable silence with Callie in both Stef and Lena's arms. When Callie finally fell asleep, Lena said, "What changed?"

"Hm?" Stef said, half conscious. "What do you mean my love?"

"This morning she was the kid that I had to ask if I could hug her and now, she wants me to hold her."

"You were the one there when something pretty traumatic happened to her, she loves you babe. She just has a different way of showing it." Stef said, grabbing Lena's hand that was on Callie.

Lena nodded and Stef leaned over to kiss her good night and that was the beginning of a beautiful relationship between Lena and Callie.

_End Flashback._

"I'm going to miss this," Callie reiterated. "Mamasandwiches," the teenager murmured.

"I promise," Stef said, "every time you come home, we'll do this." She kissed her oldest daughter's temple.

"Mmmhmm," Lena said, "I love me some Callie time."

And that's how Mike found the three of them when he came to pick Callie up for their father-daughter date and he smiled a little at the sight. He was happy that Stef found the love she needed and he was happy that it was a woman that cared about their kids more than anything in the world.

* * *

><p>Between Lena and Emily, the double date that they had planned was actually going slower than they expected. They decided to grab dinner and then take a walk down the beach, but the three women could tell that Ben's mind was elsewhere. He had just gotten back from a week in New York on business.<p>

Emily wrapped her arm around him and asked, "You alright?"

Ben gave his typical answer, "Hm? Oh yeah, fine."

"Lying doesn't help you get better," Lena said over her shoulder.

"I'm just tired, that's all." Ben said.

Stef suddenly stopped and then took her brother's face in her hands and softly caressed her thumbs over his cheek bones, "Stop lying to us bro," she said softly, "we _want_ to help you."

"I'm not lying," he said. "Seriously, I'm fine. I'm just really tired. I did just get off a plane four hours ago."

Stef stared at him, trying to figure out whether or not he was telling the truth, and then when he gave her a soft smile, she let go of his face and wrapped an arm around Lena, "Okay," she said.

The two couples walked in silence listening to the sounds of the ocean. Every once and awhile Stef would press a soft kiss to Lena's temple. The sun had long since set, but it was peaceful.

Emily had been carrying a blanket for them to sit on and after she and Lena spread out the blanket and the two couples sat down, Ben's phone rang.

"Please don't answer that," Stef said to him wanting the double date to be free from distractions of their every day lives.

Ben sighed as he hit ignore on his phone, whoever it was would have to wait.

"Thank you baby," Emily whispered and kissed his cheek.

"You bet, my love." Ben said softly before leaning back on his back to look at the stars.

"How was New York?" Stef asked Ben.

"If I wasn't busy with work, I was busy dealing with my unaccepting grandmother." Ben said. "I try to save the company money every time I go, but my right-wing conservative grandmother doesn't help that."

"She doesn't accept your mom?" Lena asked, leaning back to also look at the stars.

"Nope," he said, "never has and I doubt she will. And I'm constantly called the bastard child by her husband."

"I take it not your biological grandfather?" Stef asked.

"It's her like fourth or fifth husband?" He said not believing what was coming out of his mouth.

"Wow," Emily said. "And she's unaccepting to your mom?"

"Just as unaccepting as our dad was to Stef," Ben said carefully.

"And you're caught in the middle?" Lena asked as Stef lied back and the curly haired woman placed her head on the blonde's shoulder.

"Pretty much," he said staring up at the stars as silence fell between the four.

They were all listening to the sound of the ocean and watching the stars, when Emily chuckled, "Remember when you two took me to do this when I lived with you?" The young woman asked.

The older couple smiled, "Yeah," Lena said. "You'd always feel so bad because we got a babysitter for the older twins and we'd take you out."

"That's because you two deserved a date night," Emily argued. "I felt like I was taking up a lot of your time."

"Trust me," Stef said squeezing the young woman's shoulder, "we had plenty of date nights while you lived with us."

Emily looked over at Stef with a small smile, "Yeah?" She asked.

"They were a lot of date nights in for the sole factor of in case you needed us, but yes," Stef said softly kissing her baby sister's forehead.

"I remember the night before the court hearing, the older twins were with Mike and you two took me here and you two just held me, reassuring me that everything was going to be okay, it actually was what got me through the next day," Emily said as she grabbed Stef's hand.

Stef squeezed her hand, "That was our only goal." She said as they fell back into another bit of silence.

Lena then looked over to Ben who looked like he was thinking about something really hard. He had a far off gaze in his eyes as he looked at the stars.

"You alright Ben?" Lena asked.

"Hm?" Ben said looking at her and Lena was the first one to catch the tears in his eyes, "Oh yeah, fine."

"Honey," Lena said softly. "What's going through that head of yours, huh?"

"Just stuff," he answered knowing that Lena wouldn't take nothing as an answer. "Stuff that I'm trying to figure out. Stuff that I need to figure out. Just stuff."

"Like what?" Emily asked as she cuddled further into her boyfriend.

"Just work stuff," Ben answered.

"Well can you not think about that right now?" Stef asked. "It's kinda hard to have a little fun if you're trapped in work stuff while we're attempting to have a double date over here."

"Stef," Lena gently chastised.

"What?" Stef asked looking at her wife. "It's true."

Lena gave her wife a small glare, in ten years, Stef knew that look and she knew better not to push her luck.

When Stef laid back and just brought Lena closer to her, Ben chuckled, "You really are whipped, aren't you?"

"What do you mean?" Stef asked her brother while giving him a glare.

"You'll do just about anything that Lena tells you to," Ben said. "Just a look kinda just brings you back in line. It's like Lena has you wrapped around her fingers. It's endearing really."

Lena smiled and kissed Stef's cheek, "I think it's an Adams trait," Stef told her brother. "Because Emily has you wrapped around her fingers as well."

Ben kissed the top of Emily's head, "She always has," he said. "Since the moment she walked into _The Opinionated Buzz_ for the Times lawsuit. I was really taken back when I met her."

Emily looked up at the man, "You were?" She asked.

"You have this strong personality, which probably attracted me to you, but yeah. I think that was the moment I realized that I was in too deep and didn't care." Ben said with a small smile, "You knew what you wanted, how you wanted it, and would do just about anything to get it. So yeah, I was taken back a little."

"I just love my job," Emily said.

"You're really good at your job," Lena said remembering seeing her in action once.

"Thanks sissy," Emily said squeezing her older sister's hand.

The four fell into a peaceful silence again with each Adams sister cuddled into their respective Elkin-blooded significant other with their hands collapsed into each other. Sure this double date started out slow, but both couples realized that this is what they needed. Just a low-key, quiet night on the beach; all silently agreeing to do this often.

* * *

><p>Callie didn't hate a lot of things; Lena had taught the older twins early on in her relationship with Stef that hate is a strong word and should be used lightly. The woman had taught the older twins that they didn't hate much, they strongly disliked things.<p>

But, Callie could say that she hated packing, especially packing that meant that she would be away from her family for more than a couple of weeks. It was the day before she was going to leave with her three parents for athlete move in day and everything was slowly beginning to sink in. She could tell that all three of her parents were trying to hide their emotion behind her moving across the country. Her twin, Mariana, and Jude as well. Jesus was another story.

"So this makes it official," Jesus said walking into her room as she was beginning to pack her clothing.

"It does," Callie said folding a sweatshirt and putting it into a suitcase.

"I really am going to miss you," the boy said. "It's not going to be the same without you here. At least with Brandon, Mom convinced him to come home once a week for dinner."

"She convinced me to Skype once a week," Callie said remembering the conversation they had on the porch a couple of days prior before her father-daughter date with Mike.

Jesus looked up at Callie's wall and smiled when he saw the picture from his and Mariana's adoption day, "You still have it up." He said when he saw it.

Callie chuckled, "Of course," she said. "Mama's framing the one from Jude's adoption day so I can have them both in my dorm room."

Jesus smiled, "Y'know, you were the first one that I trusted coming here." He said. "I can probably attest for Mariana and Jude too." He added knowing he was right.

"You guys didn't trust moms at first?" Callie asked.

"We wanted to," Mariana said coming into the room with Jude and Brandon. "But, you played with me and Jesus."

"And you protected me," Jude added.

"What are you all doing in here?" Callie asked already knowing the answer.

"You're moving out tomorrow and you're really asking us why we're all in here?" Brandon asked incredulously.

"Alright, fair point." Callie said. "But, if you all are going to be in here, at least help me pack."

"Deal," her four siblings said.

As the five siblings were packing up Callie's things, they fell into a relative silence, nobody knew what to say. Callie was moving and they were all going to miss her.

"You still have this?" Brandon asked looking at Callie. Callie smiled and nodded her head, "Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one that held onto the bear that Mama gave me."

"What bear?" Stef asked as she and Lena came into the room with Lena.

"When we all first moved in together," Lena said, "you were working a night shift and they were scared of the new place without you in it and there was a pretty bad storm out. So when they came to cuddle with me, I gave them both a bear that were mine and Emily's growing up."

_Flashback._

Lena was used to the storms having not grown up in California, but in the midwest where they were a little more common to get. It was 2 o'clock in the morning when she felt the bed dip on both sides.

"Lena?" Callie said softly.

"Yes babies?" Lena said cuddling with them both.

"The storm woke us up," Brandon answered for his sister, "and we can't get back to sleep."

"We were wondering if we could cuddle with you until we did," Callie said hopeful.

"Sure," Lena said, "I'd love to cuddle with my babies." She added wrapping her arms around both of them. Thunder roared and lightening brightened up the room from the window for a second and both of the kids curled more into Lena. "Y'know, I was scared of these storms growing up. So was Emily."

The twins had just met Emily a few days before when she had come down to visit them and both Brandon and Callie fell in love with the younger version of Lena.

"What did your mommy and daddy do about it?" Brandon asked.

"They gave us these bears," Lena said. "Because they didn't want us cuddling with them every time there was a storm." Then Lena quickly added, "That's not the case here. Your mommy and I would love to cuddle with you, any time, but I'll have to find the bears and give them to you."

"Really?" Both the twins said at the same time.

"Yeah, Emily wanted me to give hers to one of you anyway." Lena said, "I'll give them to you in the morning."

"Okay," the twins said sleepily and as they fell asleep, Lena thanked whoever was out there that her girlfriend's babies trusted her enough to allow her to cuddle with them while they slept.

_End Flashback._

Lena and the older twins smiled at the memory, "I can't believe you two kept them," Lena said.

"It was your first tangible gift, second gift that you gave us," Brandon said.

"What was the first?" Jude asked.

"Her love," they said softly.

Lena's eyes were starting to water and she walked over to the older twins and brought them both into her arms, kissing both of them on their cheeks. Stef watched as this all unfolded and couldn't keep from letting a tear or two go.

When Lena let go of Brandon and Callie, she cleared her throat, "So we wanted to talk to everybody about something and we were going to do it over dinner, which is ready."

"Good," Jesus said, "because I'm starved. We'll help you after dinner Cal," he added.

"Yeah definitely," the rest of the siblings said; it was their way of sneaking in some Callie time before she left.

Stef and Lena smiled as their children filed out of the room, Stef lifted her arm for Lena to come into as they left the room as well.

* * *

><p>"So what did you have to talk to us about?" Jesus asked after they started eating the homemade pizza that the moms made for the family.<p>

Stef looked at Lena allowing her to take the lead, but when she didn't she realized that she had to take the lead. The had gotten the okay for Dr. Hillcroft about having the baby and their lawyer was drafting up the paperwork for Ben to sign his rights away before they went for their first round of inseminations.

"Before we begin, I want everybody to be on the same page about this," Stef began, "that _nobody_ is going to be replaced."

The kids stared at their mom confused, "I guess what Mom is trying to say," Lena said taking over, "is that recently I realized that as much as I love you kids like I did give birth to you, I guess I want to know what it's like to be pregnant and give birth to a child."

"Really?" All the kids said as their eyes lit up. "So there's potentially going to be a baby here in the next year?" Mariana asked with a big smile.

"Y-yes," Lena said not expecting the kids to take it as well as they were.

"I think that's cool," Jude said.

"Yeah," Brandon said before taking a bite of his pizza.

"Definitely," Jesus said. "I was wondering why you haven't done it already."

"It's pretty expensive for us to get pregnant," Stef said to Jesus.

"How are you feeling about this slug-a-bug?" Lena asked Callie realizing that she hadn't said anything yet.

"Pretty good," Callie said, "I mean, that doesn't change your love for us right?"

"Of course not," both moms said immediately.

"Then, can it be a girl?" Callie asked playfully knowing that it wasn't really up to them.

"We'll see," Lena said.

"So who's going to be your donor or are you choosing for it to be anonymous?" Brandon asked.

"Well," Lena said with a small smile at Stef, "since you asked, uh, we're going to be using your Uncle Ben."

All the siblings nodded, "Not gonna lie," Jesus said after a moment of letting it sink in, "using Uncle Ben makes sense, but it's still a little weird."

"Yeah well, don't make him feel awkward about it when he and Aunt Emily stay with you when we take Callie to school." Stef said.

"Yes please," Lena said. "He's doing this out of the goodness of his heart."

"We won't moms," Brandon said. "We promise." He added with the three younger ones nodding their head.

* * *

><p>"Alright," Stef said running her hand through her hair early the next morning, "do you have everything?"<p>

Callie chuckled, "For the fifth time, yes." She said as there was a knock on the door.

Stef opened the door to see Mike, Ben, and Emily all standing at the door, "What did you all carpool together?" She joked.

"Well Emily and I did," Ben said, "it was just a coincidence that we showed up at the same time as Mike."

"Come on in," Stef said as the three walked passed her. "You know you two didn't have to come until after work."

"We wanted to say goodbye to our niece," Emily said putting an arm around Callie.

"Yeah Mom," Callie said, "I'm important too, you know."

"Of course you are baby," Stef said smiling softly at her oldest daughter who was being wrapped up in a hug from Emily.

Lena came down the stairs with her and Stef's shared bag and saw her sister hugging her daughter, "You guys didn't have to come-"

"We know," both Emily and Ben said, "We wanted to say goodbye to her the morning she left." Emily added.

"Y'know if that's okay," Ben added playfully hugging Callie.

"Perfectly fine," Lena said as four sets of feet came tumbling down the stairs to say goodbye to their sister.

"Guys," Callie said softly, "it's 4 in the morning."

"We know," Jesus said, "but we won't see you until Thanksgiving."

"We're going to miss you," Jude added.

"Yeah," Mariana said. "A lot."

"And Uncle Ben and Aunt Emily promised us breakfast at that bakery up the street," Brandon said selling out his moms' respective siblings.

Both moms looked to their brother and sister for confirmation, "It's not just a hard time for you two," Ben said shrugging his shoulders.

"Don't worry, they'll get a home cooked meal every night you're gone," Emily said.

"How often are we going to get some bonding time in?" Ben asked.

"Okay," the moms said. "But seriously give them real food while we're gone," Lena said.

"Yes ma'am," the younger couple said.

"Alright," Stef said, "we better get a move on."

"Right because you're so anxious to get the airport," Mike said. "I'm glad all three of us are going."

"Why's that?" Ben asked curiously.

"Your sister and your niece can't handle plane rides." Mike said.

"Oh yes this is true," Lena said.

"No, it's not," both Stef and Callie said.

"Honey, do I need to remind we took the older twins and Emily on an airplane to see my parents when we first got together?" Lena asked.

Emily and Brandon chuckled at that memory, "I spent the entire time with my arm wrapped around Callie while Lena lost circulation in her hand," Emily told everybody who wasn't there.

"Yeah," Brandon said, "it was pretty funny to watch." He added earning a glare from his twin and his mom. "It was."

"Alright," Mike said, "let's go."

Each sibling took time to hug Callie goodbye and when it got to Brandon, everybody gave them some space. He hugged her and said, "Promise that you'll FaceTime me more than Mom."

"I'll try," Callie said. "I'm gonna miss you B."

"I'm going to miss you too, Striker." Brandon said softly then kissing her on the forehead. "Tell any guy that if he hurts you, I'm not afraid to fly out and kick their ass."

Callie smiled, "I will and you tell Lou who you feel about her. She's a hell of a lot better for you than Talya." She said.

Brandon smiled, "I love you." He said.

"I love you too," Callie said back.

Callie picked up her soccer bag and walked out of the house for the last time until Thanksgiving.

Ben came behind Brandon and placed his hands on the teenager's shoulders, "Alright," Ben said, "ya'll are dressed right?" He received four nods. "Then let's get a move on, when the bakery opens is when they have the best pastries in all of San Diego county."

* * *

><p>Stef sat with her arm around Lena on the airplane after take off, she was sipping bad airplane coffee and was resting her head on Lena's.<p>

"You did a little better than the last time," Lena teased.

"You're too kind," Stef said kissing the top of her wife's head as she looked over and saw Mike with his arm around Callie and the teenager's head on her father's shoulders.

"I have a feeling that you're going to miss her a lot," Lena said already knowing the truth.

"My baby," Stef murmured. "I mean I know we have four more at home and we'll have one more on the way soon, but there's something special about Callie."

"She's a mini, brunette version of you," Lena said.

"She does remind me a lot of myself when I was her age." Stef said, "Although, she's brave. San Diego bred right here."

"She has dreams and she's doing whatever it takes to get to them." Lena said. "I'm insanely proud of her."

"You and me both my love." Stef said kissing Lena's temple. "You and me both."

The couple sat there enjoying the little peace and quiet before the chaos began. They cuddled and occasionally stole kisses from each other. Something about being able to hold her lover made Stef feel a little more at peace.

* * *

><p><strong>AN2:** So the next chapter is going to be about the three parents saying goodbye to Callie and Ben and Emily bonding with the other siblings back in San Diego. Then will be the three parents having to say goodbye to Brandon and I'm going to try to sneak double dates with both couples in throughout the rest of the story. And more talk about Baby Adams Foster will be talked about. Just a forewarning, it's not going to be like the show.

I hope you stick around.


	14. The Road To Chaos & Goodbye

**A/N:** Thanks for sticking with me! It's going to be a wonderful ride.

**Trigger warning:** Mentions of Ben being raped is in this chapter.

**Language warning:** Some swearing is used in one of the scenes in this chapter.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Fourteen: The Road To Chaos and Goodbyes<strong>

Emily woke up in Ben's arms a couple days later; they were sleeping on the pull-out couch and Ben was already awake. Ben had been up for a couple of hours trying not to wake his girlfriend because he had a nightmare, but when she finally stirred he spooned her from behind, kissing the back of her neck.

"Good morning beautiful," he said kissing her when she turned around.

"Morning handsome," she said kissing him back. "How long have you been up?"

"Uhh not long," Ben said unconvincingly.

"Couple of hours?" She asked looking at him straight in the eyes.

"I didn't want to wake you, but I couldn't sleep after that nightmare." Ben said as his phone rang.

"Next time please do," Emily said just like Lena would.

"Alright, Lena Adams Foster," Ben said rolling his eyes when he looked at his phone. "Stef is FaceTiming me."

"Well answer it." Emily said.

Ben slid the answer button, "You do realize it's 6:00am here, yes?" Ben said after it connected.

_"Yeah well, I also know you and Emily are getting up to go to work." Stef said with her arm around Lena._

"Good morning Stef and Lena," Emily said playfully shoving her boyfriend's shoulder.

_"Good morning Emily," Stef said, "Y'see that's how you should answer your phone, Benjamin."_

"Whatever Stefanie," Ben muttered as he handed the phone to Emily and got up to make coffee.

_"What's wrong with him?" Lena asked when he walked away. "He normally IS a morning person."_

"He had a nightmare last night and dealt with it by himself." Emily answered.

_Both women sighed, "Oh that boy," Lena said softly._

_"He really needs to know when to ask for help," Stef said._

"Yeah, trust me sissys, I know." Emily said. "He's working on it."

_"How is it?" Stef asked changing the subject. "How are the kids?"_

"The younger twins are arguing about something and have been since the morning you left, Jude is okay, and Brandon is with his band right now."

_"What are Jesus and Mariana arguing about?" Lena asked worried about the two._

"Not sure, they're arguing in Spanish and Ben is doing his best to keep them from not killing each other." Emily said.

_"Ben?!" Stef called._

"Stop yelling, your kids are still asleep." Ben said coming and cuddling with his girlfriend again. "What's up?"

_"What are the twins arguing about?" Stef asked._

"It's not important," Ben said looking at his girlfriend.

_"It is if they are still arguing," Stef said._

"It's nothing you can deal with in Pennsylvania," Ben said.

"_WHAT are they arguing about?" Stef asked again._

"Seeing Ana," Ben answered to get his sister to shut up, but regretted it when he saw both women's eyes widening. "Look, they aren't going to do anything while you're gone. That's not why they're arguing."

_"Then why are they arguing?" Stef asked almost in a command like way._

"Jesus thinks that seeing her will only cause more drama and Mariana wants some closure." Ben said.

_"Well how messy is their arguing?" Lena asked. "No swearing or name calling right?"_

Ben rose an eyebrow at his sister-in-law, did she not know how teenagers fight and argue?

_Lena sighed, "Alright, we'll deal with it when we get home," she said._

"How is it going over there?" Emily asked successfully changing the subject. "Has Stef broke down crying yet?"

_Stef squinted at her baby sister, "Noo," she said._

"C'mon Stef," Emily said, "if you don't breakdown in front of Callie, you'll do it in front of Brandon."

_"I'm not having a breakdown," Stef said. "I'm proud of my babies."_

"Yeah, but you're going to miss them," Emily said, "Speaking of which, where is Callie?"

_"Having breakfast with Mike," Stef said. "And we're doing dinner with her tonight after she officially moves in this afternoon."_

"Looks like they're is a plan in place," Ben said.

_"How are Brandon and Jude?" Stef asked._

"Jude is good," Emily answered. "He's actually going to go to work with Ben today."

_"And Brandon?" Stef asked knowing if this was hard on her, Lena, and Mike it had to be hard on him._

Ben and Emily simultaneously sighed, ever since Callie left he had been with the band, but he also spent late nights locked in his room with headphones playing his keyboard. He's said all about two words to them since the early morning.

"He's not really talking," Emily said. "He's with his band all day and then by himself playing music with headphones late into the night."

"It's almost like Callie died or something," Ben said softly. "He misses her a lot."

_Stef sighed, "I knew this would happen," the blonde said._

"I was thinking about talking to him tonight," Ben said. "Gain some perspective on what's going on in his head."

_"We appreciate that honey," Lena said as she was visibly rubbing her wife's back. "We appreciate everything that you're doing for us."_

"If the roles were reversed, you'd do the same," Ben said wrapping an arm around Emily. "I have it handled Stef," he reiterated to his sister. "Don't worry about it."

_"I'm going to worry about it," Stef said. "It's my baby we're talking about here."_

"I'll handle it," Ben said. "Focus on one baby at a time."

_Stef sighed, "You're right," she said._

"I'm sorry?" Ben just said, "What did you just say?"

_An amused smile came onto Lena's face, "I wouldn't push it if I were you buddy," Lena said._

"Just saying, between the three of you, I've never been right before," Ben said. "Let me have this moment.

The Adams sisters chuckled and Emily kissed Ben's cheek as the Elkin-blooded siblings shared an intense stare down like they always do in these situations.

* * *

><p>"So are you nervous kiddo?" Mike asked Callie at the breakfast they were having together.<p>

"About living on my own and going to school? Yeah," Callie admitted. "I'm going to miss life back home."

"I'm going to miss having you around," Mike admitted. "Uh thanks for having breakfast with me this morning."

"You don't have to thank me, Daddy." Callie admitted softly.

"You probably could've had a better breakfast with your mom and Lena." He admitted looking at the box of donuts that sat in the middle of them in the rental car.

"We did this in San Diego," Callie said, "when it was just me and you before my soccer games. Lena would get so mad that you fed me sugar before a game or a tournament."

"It was our little tradition," Mike said. "I'm really sorry that I left you and B hanging all those years."

"Daddy," Callie said softly, "I understand. It had to of been hard for Mom to leave you for Lena like that."

"I still should've been there," Mike said regretfully. "I still should've called more."

"Daddy, stop beating yourself up." Callie said, "Brandon and I, we understand and we don't think any less of you for it. Sure maybe at the time we did, but it's just because we missed you. We've forgiven you though. Both of us."

"Your mom told me that you were struggling with the divorce still when Ben came into the picture," Mike said, "I'm sorry."

"Daddy," Callie said, "really stop apologizing for stuff. I _know_ you love me. So does B."

Mike nodded, "I uh got you something," he said, "since we're missing your birthday by a week."

The father pulled out a box from his sweatshirt pocket and handed it to his daughter, "Oh my god," Callie said softly, "You didn't have to."

"I saw it and thought of you," he said as she looked at the necklace in the box. "And don't worry, it wasn't too expensive, but I'm still not telling you how much I spent on it."

"Thank you Daddy," Callie said softly and leaned over to kiss his cheek. "This is sweet."

"I'm glad you like it, Cal." Mike said with a smile.

* * *

><p>"The website is down," one of Ben's business partners came in around lunch time.<p>

Ben looked up from the paperwork he was going over, "What do you mean the website is down?" Ben asked.

"It crashed," Jonah, his business partner said. "We can't get onto the server."

"Shit," Ben said under his breath, very aware that his youngest nephew was in the room. "How long has it been down?"

"Ten minutes," Jonah said.

"Fuck," Ben said under his breath again, "ten minutes and you didn't think about telling me?"

"At first we just thought it was the computers that needed to be restarted," his other business partner Raider came in hearing the explicative under Ben's breath, "and then we thought it was the server. And now, we're finding out that it's the entire website... _annnd _the server."

"Please stay calm," Jonah said watching Ben fume. "For the sake of our employees and the sake of your teenage nephew." He added reminding the man that Jude was in his office.

"Alright," Ben said looking over at Jude who wasn't really paying attention to anything except the handheld game in front of him while listening to music. "I'll bring it back up, " he said roughly running his hand through his hair. "Sarah, I need you to postpone my meeting with Emily."

"She's already in the conference room," Sarah said.

Ben started walking to the conference room, "Hi," he said in a hurry.

"Hi," the lawyer said seeing the man visibly distraught. "What's up?"

"The entire website and server went down," Ben said, "I need to bring it back up. I have to postpone this meeting."

"Ben," Emily said seeing how stressed out he was, "do I need to take Jude with me?"

"No, no, I should have it back up in two hours tops," he said. "I just - what's up? Why this impromptu meeting?"

"You're being sued." Emily said simply.

"What?" Ben said, "What for?"

"When are you going to give your editors and reporters the plagiarism talk that you probably heard every semester in college?" She asked in a serious professional tone.

"God dammit," Ben said under his breath.

"I really hope you aren't talking that way in front of our nephew," Emily said, "Lena will have your behind."

"He's listening to music playing a video game," Ben said sitting down.

"Go bring the website and server back up," Emily said standing up coming behind him rubbing his shoulders. "Then we'll talk about this."

Ben took a deep breath and said, "Okay."

"Also, somebody by the name Lilliana Rosemont got in contact with me knowing that I'm your lawyer and said she wanted to speak to you. I'm not sure why she needed to talk to me about it. Does that name ring a bell?" Ben's eyes went wide and his entire body went stiff. Emily rubbing the man's shoulders felt the stiffness, "Ben? Who is it?"

* * *

><p>"Alright," Stef said opening the door to Callie's dorm room, "here we are."<p>

Callie took a deep breath, closed her eyes, counted to three, and then walked into the dorm room to see that her roommate was already in the room.

"You must be Callie Foster," the girl said.

"I am," Callie said putting her soccer bag on the empty bed.

"My name is Bailey James," she said, "I'm your sophomore roommate and teammate on the soccer team." She added warmly. "Welcome to Penn State."

"Thank you," Callie said softly. "These are my parents."

"You can call us Stef, Lena, and Mike," the man said as he stuck his hand out as the women nodded their heads.

"Yeah, no need for formalities," Stef added.

"It makes her feel old," Lena jokingly added shaking the girl's hand.

Bailey laughed, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be laughing," she said, "but this is really funny."

Callie smiled softly, "So uh, I take it this empty bed is mine?" She said.

"Oh yeah, I hope you don't mind." Bailey said.

"No, no, it's cool." Callie said. "Just wanted to clarify."

"For sure," Bailey said. "Definitely. I have to go meet up with my parents for lunch. So I'll give you four the room."

"Sounds good," Callie said, "uh it was nice meeting you."

"Nice meeting to you too, Foster. Welcome to the team." Bailey said. "And it was nice meeting you three as well," she said shaking the three parents' hands again before leaving the room.

"She seems nice," Mike said once she left the room.

"Yeah, really sweet," Lena added wrapping her arm around Stef's shoulders.

"Which is good," Stef said. "It'll make living here easier."

Callie nodded and turned to her soccer bag on the bed, "Yeah," Callie said softly trying to discreetly wipe a tear away, but Lena caught it.

"Hey slug-a-bug," she said softly, "are you okay?"

Callie tried to brush it off by saying, "Oh yeah, I'm fine."

"Baby," Lena said as another tear escaped her eye. "Talk to us, let us up there," she said pointing to Callie's head.

Now both Stef and Mike were alert to what was going on, "It's okay sweets," Stef said. "You can tell us."

"Yeah kiddo," Mike said, "we're here for you."

Callie turned around to her three parents, still trying to hold back tears, "It-it just hit me," she said. "Everything just hit me. I'm _really_ going to miss you."

The moms were surrounding Callie immediately comforting her and it took Mike a moment to crouch before her to grab her hand, "We love you," Stef whispered into her eldest daughter's ear. "We love you so much."

"We're always going to be here for you," Mike said. "We're going to miss you too."

"It's not going to be easy without you," Lena said, "but this is a good thing. You growing up and moving out is a good thing."

The moms simultaneously kissed her temples and Callie looked down at her father and smiled softly, "We love you kiddo," he said reiterating his ex wife's words.

The four of them stayed in that position for awhile before getting up and setting up Callie's side of the dorm room. Every so often with Stef and Mike sharing knowing looks that this wasn't going to be easy for them either, but it was for the best.

* * *

><p>"So let me get this straight," Emily said to Ben as they were making dinner for their nephews and niece, "Lilliana Rosemont is your dad's girlfriend who sexually assaulted you at 16?"<p>

"Yes," Ben said simply as he was putting the cheese on the homemade mac and cheese that they were making.

"Don't you have a restraining order against her?" Emily asked.

"It was only for five years," Ben said putting the pan in the oven. "It's been about seven since it happened, so she could've contacted me directly I guess."

"Why didn't you get a permeant one?" Emily asked.

"Because I didn't have you as a lawyer when I was 16," he said grabbing a beer out of the refrigerator. "Because my dad figured that she wouldn't contact us after she spent time in jail. Because my dad didn't think things through."

"Okay," Emily said softening her voice. "I'm not just your lawyer, I'm your girlfriend as well."

"When did you become my personal lawyer?" Ben asked. "Because we hired you for the company."

"And everybody in San Diego County knows that," Emily said. "She figured I was the only person she could contact to get in touch with you. So we'll set up a time in the near future, she'll say what she has to say and then we'll get on with our lives. Who knows? Maybe you can get some closure out of this. I mean you admit to the fact that she's the reason why you're having nightmares. You need closure."

Ben stared at his girlfriend understandingly because she was right. He was about to say something when they heard the front door open and shut.

"I'm home," Brandon called out into the house, "what smells so good?"

"Dinner," Emily said as the teenager came into the kitchen. "It should be ready soon."

"Cool," Brandon said. "I'm starving."

"Why don't you go wash up and get your siblings?" Emily suggested. "It should be ready in like ten minutes."

"Sounds like a plan," he said kissing his aunt's cheek and giving his uncle a fist bump.

When Brandon left the room, Emily said, "He seems to be doing better."

"He probably is just processing it all," Ben said. "It's not an easy thing to process. I know Leo struggled with it when I left. I can't imagine if it were a twin. They understand each other better than most people do."

"Yeah, you're right." Emily said, "So Lilliana Rosemont... should I make it a go?"

"Can I think about it?" Ben asked. "I mean, can I?"

"Of course baby," Emily whispered into a kiss.

The two stood their kissing for a few minutes, it was really some of the only time they had alone. Emily pulled away when she heard footsteps of her nephews and niece. She knew they couldn't stand it when they caught their moms making out in the kitchen like a couple of teenagers; she couldn't imagine how they would feel seeing their aunt and uncle doing the same thing in the same kitchen.

"What's for dinner?" Jude asked coming into the kitchen.

"Homemade mac and cheese," Emily answered as Ben pulled it out of the oven. "We promised your moms that we'd feed you something decent while they're gone."

"Sweet," Jesus said coming into the kitchen pulling out the ketchup from the refrigerator.

Ben's eyes went wide, "Why are you pulling out the ketchup?" He asked.

"You didn't know?" Mariana asked coming into the kitchen, "Jesus puts ketchup on everything."

Ben made a cringe face, "Look," the man said, "I can't judge you because I once was the kid who put ketchup on broccoli, but how mad does your mama get when you do this?"

"She just get irritated," Jesus said. "No biggie."

Ben rolled his eyes and said, "Well my mother would be insulted if you put ketchup on her homemade mac and cheese recipe." He said.

"Who said she had to know?" Jesus said and earned a glare from his uncle, "Okay, okay." He said with his hands up putting the ketchup back in the refrigerator.

Everyone sat down and started dishing up dinner, but instead of it's normal chaos, it was actually pretty quiet compared to the muttering in Spanish from Jesus and Mariana with Ben trying to be the moderator.

"Guys," Ben said, "look I know you're wanting closure from your birth mom," he said to Mariana, "but you can't expect him to." He said gesturing to Jesus.

"Thank you," the boy said.

"And you can't expect your sister to _not_ want closure." Ben said looking at the boy.

"How could you not want closure?" Mariana asked.

"How was your days?" Emily asked Brandon and Jude trying to change the subject. "Good?"

"Yeah, yeah," the two boys said nodding their heads.

"Because she is a addict and a user and she never cared about us," Jesus said back to his sister. "Because if she did, she would've gotten her act together."

"Everybody makes mistakes Jesus," Mariana said. "We did. A lot of them. And this family forgave us. Maybe it's time we should forgive Ana and move on."

"She's a user." Jesus spat making Emily look at Ben to stop this argument before it went somewhere it shouldn't have. "She doesn't care about us. It just makes her feel good that she apologizes. It's all about her and her guilty conscious."

"Hey," Ben said, "can maybe we have this conversation after dinner? Where your brothers can have a choice whether or not they want to listen to this conversation?"

The twins looked from each other to everyone else at the table, "Sorry," they both muttered.

"So what are your plans for the rest of the evening?" Emily asked. "Anything cool?"

"Jesus and I were going to play this new video game we got," Jude said looking at his roommate with a hopeful smile.

"Yeah," Jesus said ruffling Jude's hair, "if that's okay with you two?" He asked his uncle and aunt who were in charge of them for the week that their moms were gone.

"Yeah," Ben said, "we have some work stuff to handle."

"I was just going to watch some Netflix and hang out in my room," Mariana said softly.

"What about you Brandon?" Emily asked.

"Uhh well, Callie text me on my way home and said that she wanted to FaceTime and then I was just going to work on this song that the band and I are working on." He said looking up at his aunt.

"Already?" Jesus asked. "She's been gone two days."

"Jesus," Emily gently chastised. "I think that's great buddy," Emily said looking at Brandon.

Brandon nodded, "So who's suing you?" Brandon asked. "I mean, if you have work stuff to work on and she's your company lawyer..."

"The Chronicle," the couple said in unison. "My reporters can't seem to not plagiarize." Ben muttered. "Lucky it wasn't the whole article this time."

"That sucks," Brandon said taking a bite of his food.

"Did you get the server and website back up?" Jude asked. "I know that caused a lot of chaos in the office today; especially the newsroom."

"Yeah," Ben smiled softly, "everything is backed up. We had a lot of traffic going on the website."

"Does it have anything to do with the fact that your reporter plagiarized?" Brandon asked.

"Probably," Ben said. "I'm not too sure."

"Well, we'll be quite tonight and be sure to stay out of your hair." Brandon said looking at his siblings who nodded in agreement.

"I mean, if you need something," Ben clarified.

"But, only if we need something," Brandon said in a voice that reminded Ben a lot of Stef.

Silence fell in the kitchen before Jesus looked up at Mariana and said, "Fine."

"What?" Mariana asked.

"When moms get home, let's get closure from on drug addict of a birth mom," he said making everybody at the table look at him. "It's time."

Mariana nodded with a soft smile, "It's time," she repeated.

* * *

><p>"What looks good?" Stef asked her wife and daughter as they sat at a restaurant for dinner.<p>

"Food," Callie said simply making her moms laugh.

Lena grabbed the girl's hand from across the table, "You doing okay baby?" The curly haired woman asked.

"If you're referring to earlier when I broke down crying than, yeah, I'm better." Callie said softly.

"That's good," Lena said caressing the back of the girl's hand with her thumb. "You seemed better when we left for a little while."

"Everything just sunk in at once," Callie said. "And then the front I've been keeping up all week just came tumbling down when the realization that in a few days, you'll be leaving and I won't see you two or my dad until Thanksgiving and-and I wonder if this is going to work."

"Okay, it's okay," Stef said putting down the menu and moving to the other side of Callie who was trying to focus on her breathing as the small rant came to an end. The mother helped her daughter through a small panic attack and then wrapped her arms around her.

When Callie's breathing settled down and she placed her head on Stef's chest, Lena took over, "First off, you never should have to feel like you have to have a front up for us," the principal said. "We want you to feel like you can come to us, _no matter what,_" she emphasized.

"Yes," Stef agreed kissing her daughter's temple.

"And secondly," Lena continued, "we are _so_ proud of you. You worked so hard to get here baby."

"Really hard," Stef agreed with her wife again.

"And it's going to be hard to say goodbye in a few days," Lena said. "But, we'll always be there for you from San Diego." She smiled softly at her oldest daughter.

Callie nodded and said, "I love you."

"I love you too," the couple said in unison.

"I'm really hungry," Callie said after a few moments of silence.

Stef let go of her daughter and moved back to sit next to her wife as she said, "Yeah, me too."

"You two are always hungry," Lena joked to the mother-daughter duo.

"We live extremely active lives." Stef defended.

"Well, I do," Callie said jokingly earning a glare from her mother.

Lena chuckled kissing her wife's cheek, "At least she didn't call you old," the curly haired woman said.

"How can I call you old when you're going to be a mother of a newborn within the next year?" Callie asked smiling fondly of the fact that she was going to be a big sister soon.

The couple smiled softly at the girl, "Yeah," Lena said softly as the waiter came to take their orders, "how can she?"

"When are you two starting the process?" Callie asked when the waiter walked away.

"When we get back," Lena said as Stef grabbed her hand under the table.

"It's going to be an adjustment to the other twins and Jude," Callie said. "A baby crying all throughout the night."

"Yeah," Stef chuckled, "Mariana surely won't get the beauty sleep she says she needs."

Lena chuckled and said, "She's fond of the idea though."

"Who isn't?" Callie asked, "Babies are beautiful."

"Yeah," Stef said looking fondly at her wife, "they are."

* * *

><p>Ben knocked on Brandon's door that night and when he heard a muffled, come in, he opened the door to see his nephew sitting in front of his keyboard.<p>

"Hey bud," Ben said walking in.

"Hey Uncle Ben, what's up?" Brandon asked.

"I just wanted to check in," Ben said. "You've been quiet since Callie left."

Brandon shrugged, "As creepy as it sounds, it feels like part of me left when she did." He tried to explain.

"Maybe if you explained it differently, it wouldn't come off so creepy." Ben joked as he flipped through the vinyls next to the keyboard. "But, I think I get what you mean."

Brandon chuckled, "Callie understands me better than anybody, myself included sometimes. And now, she's just gone." He said. "It was that twin telepathy at its finest. I would know when she wasn't doing well, she would know when I wasn't." Ben smiled at the boy, "And now she's gone," Brandon continued. "They got us ready for this all through school and yet it's still hard for me."

"What do you mean? How'd they get you ready for it?" Ben asked, not understanding.

"My mama thought it would be good for our growth if we had different classes," Brandon began to explain. "That way we had two separate groups of friends and we weren't dependent on each other all the time. In high school, we had the same teachers just different periods. Like when I would have math, she would have English, and vice versa. That way if we needed help with our homework, at least one of us would understand it."

Ben nodded understanding now, "I think I get it," he said.

"Yeah," Brandon said, "but it's better for her to do it this way. She wouldn't be motivated here."

"What makes you say that?" Ben asked.

"She would be stuck," he tried to explain, "relying on our moms and our dad. She wants to become an Olympic soccer player, she wants to play in the big leagues, this is her home. She feels comfortable here. It's why I'm moving to LA too. I'm too comfortable here."

"Ahh," Ben said understanding, "I get it now."

"Yeah," Brandon said turning back to his keyboard.

"I'll let you get back," Ben said, "I just wanted to check in."

"Thank you," Brandon said. "I appreciate that."

Ben reached out and squeezed the boy's shoulder, it made Brandon inwardly smile because that's something his mom would do, but he didn't bring it up because he knew better than that.

Ben walked out of the room and walked back downstairs to see Emily texting somebody, he sat down next to her on the pull-out bed and asked, "Who are you texting?"

"Oh, it's just an ongoing text message I have with Stef and Lena," Emily said.

"You have one of those too?" Ben asked wrapping his arm around his girlfriend.

"I think it started with me," Emily said placing her head on his shoulder. "How's B?"

"Good," Ben said, "I think he's processing a lot right now."

"That would make sense." Emily said. "Did you check on the other kids?"

"Yeah before talking with Brandon," Ben said. "Jesus and Jude are playing a video game and Mariana is watching some vampire thing on her computer."

Emily chuckled, "Can you imagine this in ten years with your own?" She asked.

Ben chuckled, "I try not to think out that far," he said. "It scares me a little."

"But, is that something you would want?" Emily asked.

Ben nodded, "Yeah, eventually." He said. "I've always wanted to be a dad and a husband."

Emily smiled, "I didn't always want to be a mom or a wife." She said, "And then Lena met Stef who had Brandon and Callie. That kind of changed my perspective on things," She smiled fondly thinking of her oldest niece and nephew.

Ben started running his fingers through Emily's curly hair and they fell into a peaceful silence, Emily was enjoying Ben's hands gently running through her hair and then Ben said, "I want closure."

Emily looked up, "With Lilliana?" She asked.

Ben nodded, "Yeah, it's time." He said.

"Are you sure?" Emily asked.

"I just want the nightmares to stop," Ben said running his fingers through Emily's hair, "it's time for closure."

"Is it what the younger twins were arguing about?" Emily asked.

"Kinda," he said nodding his head.

"Okay," Emily said, "do you want me there with you?"

Ben shook his head, "I think this is something I have to do alone," he said as Emily nodded in understanding.

The sat in silence for a little while longer, then the thought occurred to Emily, "When are you going to tell our sisters?" She asked, speaking her thoughts.

Ben chuckled, "After it's all done and over with," he said. "Stef and Lena worry like no other."

Emily chuckled, "I'll set it up then." She said.

"Thanks my love," he said kissing her forehead. "I really appreciate it."

* * *

><p>A couple of days later, Stef stood with tears in her eyes out on the balcony of their hotel room. She had been distant for the past couple of days helping Callie settle down and as it hit Callie a couple of days before it hit Stef that morning when she woke up.<p>

She was nursing a cup of coffee when she felt Lena's arms wrap around her waist and had her chin on the police officer's shoulder.

"Hi love," Stef said trying to hide the fact that she had been crying for the last ten minutes.

"Hi babe," Lena said kissing her wife's ear. "I love you."

"I love you too, baby." Stef said.

"You've been crying," Lena said.

"Saying goodbye to one today and another one in two weeks," Stef said, "They never said parenting was going to be _this_ hard."

"Saying goodbye isn't always easy," Lena comforted, "but this is how they grow into the strong, smart, beautiful individuals we raised them to be."

Stef took a deep breath, "I'm glad that we don't have to do this for another two years." The blonde said. "I can't imagine back-to-back years of this."

"I think it'll be harder on me next year than you," Lena said making Stef turn in her arms and look at her confused. "Brandon and Callie are your babies, you had a special connection with them since conception. It might be easier with the others."

"That makes me sound like an ass," Stef said leaning forward into Lena's shoulder.

"No, it will still probably be hard on you, but our big twins are different for you." Lena said.

Stef smiled into Lena's shoulder when Jesus and Mariana first came to live with them she referred to Brandon and Callie as the big twins and Jesus and Mariana as the little twins.

"I pray to whoever is out there that we don't have another set of twins," Stef said from her spot with her face buried in Lena's shoulder. "If we do, I'm blaming Ben."

Lena chuckled, "If you keep talking like that, we will get twins." The curly haired woman said.

"I'm too old for twin infants again at least I was in my late twenties, early thirties when I had B and Callie." Stef said.

"You know you just called yourself old, right?" Lena said kissing her wife's head.

"Yeah, I realized that I'm getting there when I couldn't manage to do even a half a night of making love to you last night." Stef said.

Lena smiled when they got back from dinner with Callie the night before, they had done some talking, and talking led to kissing, the kissing led to a full on make out session, that led to clothes coming off, and it lasted two hours before Stef had falling asleep when they were cuddling afterwards.

"It was fine baby," Lena said rubbing circles on her wife's lower back. "I understand."

Stef smiled up at the love of her life, she still couldn't wrap her mind around how this woman could love her for everything that she is, everything that makes her who she is. She considered herself beyond lucky.

* * *

><p>"If you ever need us please call," Stef said to Callie as the three of them were saying goodbye. "Promise me?"<p>

"Yes Mom," Callie said. "Though not sure what you'll be able to do about it with a country between us."

"Don't act like Lena's parents aren't that far away," Stef said as Lena went to hug her.

"Bye slug-a-bug," Lena said. "I love you."

"I love you too," Callie said burying herself into her mama like Stef had about an hour before.

Lena unwrapped herself from her oldest daughter and Mike came and took that place, "Goodbye kiddo," he said. "I'm always a phone call away if you just need to talk."

"Thanks Daddy," she said. "I love you."

"I love you too," he said kissing the top of his daughter's head.

That left Stef and Callie to say goodbye, between Lena and Mike, they were playfully taking bets, on which one of the strong, independent women would breakdown first.

"Mom," Callie said.

"You could've done community college and made this easier." Stef said.

"Mom," Callie said again. Stef made eye contact with her daughter. "You're going to miss your flight if you don't just hug me goodbye."

Stef went to hug her daughter, "I love you my baby." She said crying a little.

"I love you too," Callie said. "I promise to call often."

"And video chat?" Stef asked.

"Yeah and video chat," Callie confirmed.

"Okay," Stef said letting go, seeing Callie's roommate who was taking Callie back to campus from the airport waiting. "We'll call when we land in California."

Callie nodded, "Please do, tell the others I love them." She said.

"We will baby," Lena said. "We better get through security."

"Bye," Stef said letting go of her daughter.

"Bye Mommy," Callie murmured as Stef placed multiple kissing on the girl's head.

Callie stood there and watched as her parents walked through security and noticed how her mom held her mama just a little closer and felt a tear roll down her face. Her roommate came up behind her when Stef, Lena, and Mike were out of sight and said, "You ready Foster?"

Callie nodded, "Yeah," she said turning around, "I am."

* * *

><p><strong>AN2:** Gave you guys a longer chapter because I'm not sure when I'll be able to write in the coming weeks. The semester is coming to a rapid end and once Thanksgiving weekend is over with (that's filled with family, food, beer, and football), the rest of the semester goes downhill in a fast tornado like way and I need to study a lot. So you may not see me until closer to Christmas. Just a casual heads up.

Thank you again for the love and support - looking forward to continuing this story.


	15. The Road To Closure & Disagreements

**A/N:** To answer questions, the reason why Callie called Lena by her name instead of Mama to Mike is because out of pure second nature I did that. Y'see, my folks are divorced and my mom is remarried (to a man, but you get where I'm coming from) and sure I call my stepfather Dad when my father isn't around and his name when my father is around, but it was second nature in this story. I apologize for that.

Anyway, a preview: Stef and Lena are back in San Diego and the younger twins are getting ready to get some closure with Ana and Ben with Lilliana. Plus more. So please sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Fifteen: The Road To Closure &amp; Disagreements<strong>

"This is the donor agreement contract," Lena said sliding it over to her brother-in-law.

Ben took the contract, quickly scanned it, and then took the pen out of his dress pants pocket, signed the contract.

"Anything else?" He asked softly looking between his sister and sister-in-law.

"Not right now no," Stef said noticing how tense her brother was, "we'll let you know when to do y'know..."

"Jack off into a cup?" Ben said with a straight face while nodding, "Sounds good."

Stef made a small face, making both him and Lena laugh, "So are you doing anything tonight?" Lena asked Ben changing the subject.

"Uhh yeah," he said, "I'm taking your sister out on a date."

He was only telling half of the truth, yes, he was taking Emily out on a date, but that was after he made some closure with Lilliana.

"Oooh," Stef said, "anything fun?"

"Just pizza and mini golf." He said, "She hinted at it a couple of weeks ago."

"That's how our dad used to spend time with her when she was little," Lena said.

"It's how my mama and I too." Ben said smiling fondly.

"How's she doing?" Lena asked, they hadn't really asked since the graduation party about his mama.

He smiled a little, "She's restless," he answered. "Really restless. My mom doesn't let her do too much of anything now. She's slowly going back into work. But other than that, she's good."

"That's really good news," Lena said, "I'm really glad. That must've been scary."

"Yeah," he said, "it really was. I don't think I've seen my mom so broken in my life."

"But, it's happened before?" Stef asked as she placed a soft hand to the small of Lena's back.

"Yeah, but she knew that my mama would come out of that one," he said, "we didn't know this time."

Stef nodded, "Well, we're really glad she's okay." The blonde said.

Ben nodded, "I better get going," he said. "I'll see you both tomorrow?" He asked, "You for lunch," he pointed at Stef, "and you for dinner?" He pointed at Lena knowing it was a Thursday night and he and Emily would be over to spend the weekend with the family the next day. The couple nodded, "Cool," he said side-hugging Lena and the doing the handshake with Stef that they came up with one night when they were stargazing.

_Small Flashback._

Stef and Ben were lying in the Adams Foster backyard both with a beer and they were staring at the stars when something occurred to Stef, "Why do you always hug Lena and give me a fist bump?" She asked.

Ben looked over at Stef and shrugged, "I don't know," he said. "You don't seem like a physical mushy type." He said, "I don't want to make you feel overwhelmed."

"You don't seem like the physical mushy type," Stef pointed out.

"I'm super introverted that it's awkward sometimes," he responded, "Sometimes I like it when people hug me while other times, I don't."

Stef hummed, "You know why I've always wanted a sibling?" She asked wrapping her arm around him silently telling him that she was different with family.

Ben shook his head, "Why?" He asked curiously.

"Because I've always wanted to do a special handshake with somebody." She said, "Y'know like some siblings do?"

Ben smiled, "I have one with Leo," he said.

"Really?" Stef asked, "How does it go?"

"Fist on fist, fist on fist again, fist bump, blow up." He answered, "Pretty standard."

"What if we had one?" Stef asked.

Stef could hear the smile on her brother's face when he asked, "Really?"

"Yeah," Stef said, "like side high five, backhand high five, fist bump, awkward normal handshake, pull in for a hug?"

Ben smiled, "Yeah," he said.

_Small Flashback Ended._

"See you tomorrow Ben," Stef said. "Have fun with Emily."

"Thanks Stef," he said as he picked up his car keys and walked towards the door.

When the door shut, Stef said, "I think there's something more going on tonight."

"What do you mean?" Lena said leaning back more into her wife.

"He seemed tense and it's not because of the being a donor thing," she said. "It's something else."

"He's allowed to have off days," Lena said turning to face her wife, "Maybe he's having an off day."

Stef was looking off into the distance, "Yeah, maybe you're right." She said pulling Lena onto her lap.

Lena hummed in appreciation for Stef pulling her into her lap, "We're going to have a baby," the curly haired woman said.

"I can't wait to see you glowing and pregnant," Stef said kissing Lena's neck.

Lena moaned softly, "Yeah?" She asked.

Stef continued kissing up and down Lena's neck until she heard two sets of footsteps coming down the stairs, "Oh," they heard two voices and they looked up and it was their youngest twins with worried looks on their faces.

"C'mere babies," Lena said getting off of Stef's lap.

"Was Uncle Ben just here?" Jesus asked sitting across from them.

"Oh yeah," Stef said. "He came over to sign some donor agreements."

"Oh? Does that mean you can start trying soon?" Mariana asked and the couple nodded.

"So what's up my loves?" Stef asked.

"We were wondering if you put any thought into us getting closure with Ana?" Jesus asked for the both of them.

Stef and Lena shared a look; when they got home from Pennsylvania, the twins brought it to their attention, and they said they'd think and talk about it. And they had - it seemed like a good idea.

"We have talked about it," Stef said. "And we think it is a good idea for you to get some closure with her."

"But?" Jesus asked knowing there was more.

"But, both Mom and I will be with you," Lena said. "I think we want closure as well."

The twins nodded and then Mariana said, "So how do you go about setting this up?"

"Well," Stef said, "Mama is talking with Bill and he will set it up."

"Sounds good," the twins said in unison.

"Alright, go up and we'll call you when dinner is ready." Lena said.

The twins left the room and Stef put her face in her hands - going between thinking about her babies and how weird her brother was acting.

* * *

><p>Ben walked into Fisher and Adams Business Law Group's office about twenty minutes later.<p>

"Hi Ben," Emily's partner Leroy Fisher said. "How are you?"

"I'm good," Ben said. "A little nervous," he added.

"I'm sure you are," Leroy said. "Facing your uh rapist has to be nerve-wracking."

"But, I'm ready for some closure," Ben said. "My therapist thinks I'm ready too."

"Go get 'em," Leroy said playfully punching the man's bicep. "I'm rooting for you."

"Thanks man," Ben said with a smile as he walked into the conference room where Emily was sitting looking at her laptop. "Hey love," he said softly.

"Hi baby," Emily said standing up to quickly kiss him. "You ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," Ben said adjusting his tie and a few minutes later a woman in her early to mid thirties came into the room.

"Hi," Emily said, "you must be Lilliana Rosemont."

"I am," the woman said softly.

"Please, come in," Emily said. "Have a seat."

Lilliana sat across from Ben and next to Emily and then made eye contact with the man, "Wow, you uh, grew up into a really good looking man." She said.

"Thank you," Ben said. "It's uh nice to see you again."

"You don't have to be nice," Lilliana said. "I know I've probably caused a lot of hell for you and your father."

Ben nodded, "Just for me," he said. "My father refused to talk about it."

"Refused?" Lilliana said, "As in-"

"He died about six and a half months ago," Ben said. "Heart attack."

"Oh wow," she said, "I'm sorry."

"I was able to connect with my sister and her family," Ben said, "so it had its upsides and downs." Lilliana nodded and an awkward silence filled the room, and finally he asked, "Why'd you do it? Why did you ra- force me to have sex with you?"

"Because your father was a gentleman," she said making you look confused. "Drinking turns me on and he wouldn't have sex with me that night because I was drunk out of my mind. And then I guess, I went to you because you were small and scrawny."

"How would you know that?" Ben asked. "If you were so drunk, how would you know that my father wouldn't have sex with you?"

"Because the temporary restraining order was only against you," she said. "He visited me often when I was in jail. He took my calls often."

Ben nodded, "Why did you want to see me now?" He asked.

"Because I owe you an apology," she said. "When I was 23, I was trying to figure out who I was, what made me well me. I did a lot of thinking when I was in jail and I can't believe that I did that to you."

Ben rubbed his face roughly, "It put a strain in my relationship with my father," he said. "For awhile he wouldn't even look at me."

Lilliana's eyes went wide, "I'm _so_ sorry Ben." She said. "I'm really, really sorry."

"It's fine," he said, "I forgive you."

"You do?" Lilliana asked.

Ben nodded, "I know what it's like to be 23 and trying to figure things out. Don't get me wrong, I would never encourage this behavior, but I'm finding that your twenties are the hardest years of your life. Harder than adolescent and teenager years." He said. "You're trying to figure out how the hell to be a functioning adult without your parents constantly over your shoulder telling you how things need to be done. It's not easy. I'm experiencing that and I'm two and a half years into the working world."

Lilliana licked her lips and said, "You're a great man," she said.

"I try to be," he said a little uneasily.

"I just wanted to apologize." Lilliana said getting up.

"Thank you," Ben said discreetly grabbing Emily's hand underneath the table. "I needed the closure."

Lilliana shook both Ben and Emily's hand and walked out of the conference room, Ben looked off into space for a moment.

"Ben honey?" Emily said looking at him. It was almost like he did a 180 degree turn from when Lilliana was in the room. "Ben," she said again. "Benjamin," she said knowing that might snap him out of his haze.

"Something doesn't feel right," he said when he did snap out of his haze.

"What do you mean?" Emily asked, noticing that her boyfriend was going into a delayed panic attack and when he blacked out, the only thing that Emily knew to do is to call Stef and Lena to come help.

* * *

><p>Ben's eyes popped open and he saw that he had a damp cloth over his forehead and around his neck.<p>

"Oh thank god," Emily breathed.

_"Is he awake now?" Lena said over the speaker phone._

"Yes sissy," Emily said. "You guys don't have to come if you don't want to."

_"Like hell, we are aren't." Stef said driving, "We'll be there in five minutes."_

"What the hell happened?" Ben asked.

"You blacked out baby," Emily said. "Delayed panic attack."

"And you called our sisters?" Ben said not believing it.

"Yeah," she said. "I meant to just call Lena, but then she kind of freaked out and Stef got involved."

"C'mere baby," Ben mumbled with his arm up and taking the damp cloths off of his neck and forehead, "lemme hold you." He wrapped his arms around his girlfriend. "I'm sorry I scared you."

"It's fine." Emily said, "I'm glad you're okay."

The young couple enjoyed the silence before they heard Stef's voice, "Hi Leroy, our siblings?"

"In the conference room," he said. "Go easy on your brother."

Stef and Lena came in hand in hand into the conference room, "Oh baby," Lena murmured.

"Are you okay?" Stef asked seriously.

"I'm fine," Ben said looking at his sister.

"So I can do this now?" Stef asked before preceding to smack his bicep.

"What the hell?" Ben mumbled.

"You scared the hell outta me," Stef said.

"I'm sorry Stef," he said lowly trying to stand up.

"No, sit back down," Stef said. "Really? You were just at our house before coming here! You couldn't have told us?!"

"Stef," Lena said trying to calm her wife down when she noticed that he brother-in-law was tensing up.

"No Lena," Stef said, "what do you think it means when we said we're _always _here for you, huh?" She asked her brother.

"Last time I checked, I didn't _need_ to check in with you," Ben said with his jaw tightened. "I'm your _brother_ not your _child._"

"I don't care," Stef said. "We promised your moms we'd take care of you. Since well Dad couldn't anymore."

"Since when did Dad ever take care of me?" Ben asked as Emily slipped out of his arms and Lena took her sister into her arms because they both know how heated this was going to get.

"You know what I mean," Stef said.

"Actually, I don't," Ben actually stood up and towered over Stef before he said, "Look, I'm 23 years old. Twenty-fucking-three. My mothers - don't know anything about the Lilliana case," he said. "Neither do you," he said pointing directly into her chest, "all you know is that it happened. I _spared_ you the details. So when I say that I don't need to check in with you," his voice got higher and he poked Stef's chest harder, "I fucking mean it," he said.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you. But, I didn't need that overprotective big sister that you were going to be. I didn't need you constantly asking me if I'm okay. I'm alive, of course I'm okay! You and Lena have five kids who need you. Your first priority _before _me is to make sure those _five_ kids are okay."

"Ben," Lena said softly as he breathing began to pick up again. The brother-sister duo were in an intense staring match.

"You have five kids," Ben reiterated when Stef's look turned into a _'how dare you'_ glare. "You have one kid who doesn't know how to live without his twin, you have another kid who think she's going to fuck it all up in Pennsylvania, you have two more kids who just want closure with their birth mom so they won't feel guilty around you two anymore, and you have another kid who questioning his entire existence right now. You _don't _need your little brother who's got his own problems and needed closure with his rapist to stand before that."

The room went still - Ben finally admitted to Lilliana as his rapist; instead of his father's girlfriend who forced him to have sex with her at 16.

"Ben," Stef said breaking the silence. "Little brother." She said softer.

Ben quickly picked up his jacket and walked out of the conference room, not quite wanting to believe that he admitted what he did right then and there.

"Ben," all three women said at the same time trying to stop him.

But, it was already too late.

* * *

><p>A couple of days later, Stef, Lena, Jesus, and Mariana were walking into a restaurant to meet Ana - although Stef's mind was occupied on why she, her wife, or their baby sister haven't heard from her brother since he blew up and left.<p>

"Thank you for meeting me," Ana said as they approached the table.

"For sure," Jesus said sitting down between his mama and his birth mom with his twin on the other side of his birth mom and their mom.

"Thank you for allowing them to meet me," Ana said to the moms, Stef and Lena nodded.

They looked at the menus and ordered food and then Ana started her speech, "I'm sorry," she started looking between the twins, "for not being the mother I should've been to you."

"We forgive you," Jesus said and Mariana nodded. "As much as we don't want to say it to your face, we would've never met our moms and siblings."

"When you were taking away from me for the last time," Ana began, "I always hoped that you'd find yourself with people like Stef and Lena."

The twins looked at their moms who were holding hands underneath the table, Lena had a soft smile on her face and Stef looked like she was somewhere else.

"We just wanted to say," Jesus spoke for his twin and himself, "we forgive you. For leaving us alone, for not being the mother you should. But, we found our family. Where we belong." He said grabbing Lena's other hand underneath the table, squeezing it and letting go, "We really came today for some closure."

"I understand," Ana said.

"We're sorry for your loss with Ian," Jesus said. He really was the public speaker of the two. "But y'know, ever since that night, we've had trouble looking our moms in the eye because we feel guilty on how we contacted you the last time... without their consent. We really need to focus on being a son and a daughter and a brother and a sister."

Ana nodded, "I understand." She said.

"But," Mariana jumped in, "we are very thankful that you did give birth to us and for all the relatively _good_ times we had with you." Jesus nodded in agreement.

"Also," Ana said now looking at Stef and Lena - making Lena squeeze Stef's hand, "I want to apologize to the both of you for causing the unnecessary drama in your family. I hope that you two can forgive me." The couple swallowed and nodded.

"It wasn't easy at first," Lena said for herself and her wife. "But, we've accepted that being the past." She offered a warm smile. It was a little forced, but she had to do something because Stef was not really in the conversation. She didn't necessarily like the fact that she was having lunch with two of her children's drug addict of a birth mom, but for once in seeing Ana - the woman was well put together. Cleaned up her act, so maybe this was a good thing.

"I want you to know that a huge reason why I wanted to see your children is because I wanted to properly say goodbye. I'm going to get out of San Diego, clean up my act, and start a new life elsewhere."

That managed to snap Stef out of her preoccupied mind, "Really?" Stef asked.

Ana nodded, "I'm moving to Sacramento." She said. "They have a good rehab program up there and they'll help me get back on my feet." Stef and Lena shared a look as she continued, "I'm kind of just stuck here in San Diego. Sometimes you gotta get out of your comfort zone long enough to make a change."

"If you don't mind me asking, why now?" Stef asked.

"I realized after Ian died that I need some sort of drastic change and this is it," she answered truthfully. "But, I wanted to properly say goodbye to Jesus and Mariana - give them closure."

And for the next hour and a half, that's what she did - gave her children the closure they all needed.

* * *

><p>"Where could he be?" Stef asked as she paced back and forth in their bedroom that night.<p>

"Who?" Lena asked without thinking.

"Who else?" Stef asked. "Ben."

"Maybe he needed to get away for a few days," Lena said folding the last of the laundry. "That had to of been a lot for him to handle."

"And he doesn't tell anybody?" Stef asked. "That doesn't sound like something Ben would do."

"Have you tried calling Kelly and Payton?" Lena asked. "Maybe he's with them."

"And if he's not?" Stef asked.

"Then don't you think they have a right to know that their son took off without telling anybody." Lena said.

Stef went to her nightstand and picked up her phone scrolling down to Kelly's name in her contacts, she worried a lot, even when it didn't call for it. So yeah, she was worried about her brother.

_"Hello?" Kelly's tired voice came over the phone._

"Hi Kelly, it's Stef," the cop said. "I'm sorry to bother you, but Ben just randomly took off on Thursday night and we were wondering if he was with you and Payton."

_"Uh no," Kelly said. "What happened?"_

Stef bit her lip, she knew that Ben hadn't told her about Lilliana, so she didn't want to sell him out, but there was no other way to explain what happened.

"Does the name Lilliana Rosemont sound familiar to you?" She asked, hoping that her father had some common sense in telling her.

_Kelly sighed, "Yeah, unfortunately it does," the doctor answered. "Frank told me when it happened. Ben doesn't know that we know though."_

Stef took a deep breath, "Well I guess, she contacted Emily and set up a professional meet up for him to get closure and he went into a delayed panic attack. And then Emily called us and then when we got their I kind of went off on him and then he blew up at me and then left. His phone keeps going straight to voicemail and he's not answering texts."

_"Did you go to his house?" Kelly asked._

"Emily did and he's not even responding to her," Stef said.

_There was another voice in the background that she was assuming to be Payton before Kelly asked, "Did you try his business partners?" She asked. "He doesn't go anywhere without telling them. Their respective wives call him like an unspoken spouse as a joke."_

"No, I guess I'll have to ask them. Though, I don't even know their names, so that should be interesting." Stef said running her hand through her hair.

_"Raider Jackson, Jonah McCallister, and Levi Todd." Kelly said. "The four of them are practically __inseparable."_

"Alright," Stef said taking a deep breath.

_"I'll text you over their numbers," she said. "They should know where he's at and please keep us in the loop."_

"Will do," Stef said as they hung up after saying goodbye.

"So?" Lena asked coming from behind Stef who had a hand on the dresser.

As she felt Lena's arms wrapped around her she actually fell apart, "Why did I have to go off on him?" Stef asked. "He would still be here if I just would've kept my foot out of my mouth."

"Hey, don't beat yourself up." Lena said getting her from the dresser to her lap seated on the bed.

"I should've listened to Leroy and been easy on him," she said. "But, he really did scare me."

"I know baby," Lena soothed, "I'm sure he's fine wherever he is."

Stef phone buzzed with the phone numbers from Kelly, "These are the numbers of his three business partners." Stef said softly. "Kelly said he doesn't go anywhere without telling them. Something about how their respective spouses joke around and say that he's an unspoken spouse."

"Do you want me to call them?" Lena asked kissing the back of her wife's neck.

Stef shook her head, "I got us into this, lemme get me out of it." She said.

"I'll stay with you," Lena said.

Stef nodded, "You should probably check in with Emily." She said.

The young woman had been pretty focused on her work since her boyfriend just randomly took off and it was something to be worried about.

"I'll go call her," Lena said. "You call his business partners."

Stef got up and looked at the text message:

**_Kelly:_**_ Here are the numbers. Please keep us updated._

Stef took a deep breath and clicked on the first number, it was Raider.

_It rang a couple of times before, "Raider Jackson," a deep voice came from the other line._

"H-hi Raider, this is Stef Adams Foster, Ben's sister." She said nervously.

_"Oh hi Stef," he said. "How can I help you?"_

"Uh, you wouldn't happen to know where Ben is by any chance do you?"

_"Uh no, he just said he needed a couple of personal days," the man said. "Which I couldn't blame him. He's the hardest working man here at The Opinionated Buzz." There was a voice in the background before he said, "Actually Stef, Jonah knows where he is."_

"Can I talk to him?" Stef asked. "I was going to call him next."

_"Sure," the man said, "hold on."_

_"Hi Stef," another deep voice came onto the phone. "Looking for Ben?"_

"Yeah, my wife and his girlfriend and I are pretty worried." Stef said.

_"He packed up his jeep and went up to Yosemite. Besides the ocean, that's where he can find peace. He seemed super distraught when he and I talked on the phone the other day."_

"Yosemite?" Stef asked. "That's over seven hours away."

_"Yeah, but camping and the nature is what brings him back to being the Benjamin Carlson that we want him to be."_

"Really?" Stef asked.

_"Yeah," Jonah said. "Just give him a few more days."_

"He had a huge panic attack before he left and you want me to _give_ him a few more days?" Stef asked incredulously. _  
><em>

_"Yeah and YOU also went off on him right after a panic attack." Jonah said. "With all due respect, you're the LAST person he wants to see."_

Stef took a deep breath, "Well he's going to have to deal with it."

_"What are you going to do? Drive to Yosemite? You know how big that national park is?"_

"So what?" Stef said, "I care about his safety."

_"Don't you have work tomorrow?" He asked._

"No, in fact I have the next two days off." Stef said. "It's called paid vacation leave. Thank you for telling me Jonah."

_"Yeah about that, I wasn't supposed to." He admitted._

"You did the right thing," Stef said as Lena came back out as they said goodbye.

"So?" Lena said.

"He's in Yosemite," Stef said. "And I'm going to go get him."

"Stef, he isn't one of our kids, he didn't run away." Lena tried to be logical. "He's a grown adult."

Stef looked at her wife and said, "I _need_ to make this right with him. I need him to know that I love him too much to watch him slip away."

"Stef honey, he knows you love him and he's not slipping away." Lena said as Stef was messing with her phone to call Kelly and Payton back.

_"Stef?" Kelly asked._

"He's in Yosemite," Stef said. "I'm going to make sure he's really okay."

_"Let one of us go with you," Kelly said. "Payton could use a good out because I have to work tomorrow."_

"You don't have to," Stef said.

_"Payton is the only one that can get through to him," Kelly said._

"Really?" Stef asked as she pulled Lena into cuddle for a moment.

_"Yeah," Kelly said. "She's his mama. He has a special place in his heart for her. Like I can tell your kids do for your wife."_

"Yeah," Stef said, mainly thinking about Callie and Lena's relationship. "Mamas are special." She added kissing Lena's cheek.

_"So pick her up on your way up?" Kelly asked._

"Yeah, I could use the company." Stef said.

_"Alright," Kelly said. "We'll see you in a couple of hours."_

Stef said her goodbye and packed just an overnight bag, "I'm going to miss you." Lena admitted.

"I know baby," Stef said. "But, I'll be back with you in my arms by tomorrow night."

"Just bring him back safely please." Lena said. "And don't provoke him anymore."

"I will and can't make any promises," Stef said. "And you get your sister to come over here and you take care of her." Lena nodded as Stef finished packing the overnight bag and then she kissed Lena passionately one more time. "I'll be back tomorrow night, I promise."

"I love you," Lena said.

"I love you too," Stef said kissing her just one more time before leaving.

* * *

><p>Stef killed the engine in front of Ben's moms' house and took a deep breath. She then got out and went to the door a knocked.<p>

Leo answered the door with a small smile, "Hi Mrs. Adams Foster." He said.

"Hey Leo," Stef answered, "y'know you can call me Stef. I'd actually prefer it if you did."

Leo nodded, "Come in, my moms are in the living room over there." He said. "And you're a good big sister just so you know. Ben's lucky to have you."

"Thank you, we're lucky to have each other," Stef said as she walked into the living room. "Hi," she said to the two women cuddled up on the couch.

"Stef," Kelly said, "Hi."

"Hey Stef," Payton said.

"Hey road trip buddy," Stef joked, "you ready?"

"Yeah sure am," Payton said unwrapping her arm from her wife and quickly gave Kelly a kiss goodbye. "I love you," she whispered quietly.

"I love you too," Kelly whispered back as she watched her wife get up and pick up an overnight bag. "Thank you," she then said to Stef. "For going to get our baby."

"Thank you for letting me steal your wife along the way," Stef said. "I really appreciate it."

"We'll keep you updated baby," Payton said softly running her hand through her wife's hair. "Promise."

"Thank you," Kelly whispered almost in tears.

Stef saw the woman almost in tears and she then felt a pang of guilt for letting this happen and the pang of guilt stayed there as she and Payton left the house and started their road trip.

* * *

><p>The first hour was almost silent minus the radio and a few comments here and there about the song playing, but Payton wasn't stupid, she knew something was plaguing Stef's mind.<p>

"Not to sound like a mom, but what are you thinking about?" Payton finally asked.

"It's nothing," Stef said, trying to keep to herself. Still blaming herself for getting both families into this situation.

_"If I just would've listened to Leroy and if I would've just been easy on him. He would've stayed. We wouldn't be in this __predicament right now," Stef thought. "I promised them I'd take care of their son and I drove him away. Why do I always have to stick my foot in my mouth?"_

"It's not your fault, you know." Payton said after a few moments. "It's not your fault he took off. Stop blaming yourself."

"If I was just easier on him," Stef said. "He's had a rough hand handed to him and he's taken it with nothing, but grace."

"He's just trying to figure himself out," Payton said. "He wants to know where he belongs in a family and he never knows where he belongs. He never did with Frank. He never does with us and now, he doesn't know where he fits with your and Lena's family."

"What do you mean he never did with our dad or you guys?" Stef asked confused.

"With your dad, he didn't know whether or not, he was wanting to be in his life because he knew he screwed things up with you and he wanted a do-over. Ben didn't know where he stood with your guys' dad. And with us," Payton paused and took a deep breath, "he-he took the backseat when Leo came. We know that and we feel pretty awful, but the boy came to us so broken. We understood why Ben wanted to graduate at 15 and move to San Diego. Or at least I did, Kelly sometimes just doesn't want to understand."

"If you don't mind me asking," Stef said refusing to put her foot in her mouth again, "if you knew that he was placed in the backseat when Leo came, why didn't you do something about it?"

"He refused to acknowledge it." Payton said. "Every time I would come and try to play video games with him or something, he'd always say something like 'you should really go spend time with Leo because he needs you more.' It was almost like he didn't feel like he was worth it."

Stef sighed, "Yeah his last words to me were and I quote, 'you have five kids, you have one kid who doesn't know how to live without his twin, you have another kid who think she's going to fuck it all up in Pennsylvania, you have two more kids who just want closure with their birth mom so they won't feel guilty around you two anymore, and you have another kid who questioning his entire existence right now. You _don't _need your little brother who's got his own problems and needed closure with his rapist to stand before that.' It actually made me pretty proud if he wasn't too busy poking his finger in my chest." She added wiping a tear from her eye.

"Woah," Payton said. "He's in therapy right?"

"Yeah," Stef said. "But, I'm not sure if it's kicked in yet."

"I remember the day Frank told Kelly about Lilliana, it was the first time he actually acknowledged her for more than just the mother of his child." Payton said after a few more minutes of silence. "It was the first time he'd come to LA, he would always meet Kelly halfway when he'd take Ben for the weekend. He came with his hat in his hand basically and they sat on our front porch for two hours. It was the longest that they were together that her sexuality didn't matter."

Stef nodded, "I'm sorry I provoked him," she said. "That wasn't my attention. I tend to have a habit of speaking without thinking."

"I think it says a lot that you're trying to fix it," Payton said.

"He's my brother," the cop said. "And I've been pretty worried about him lately."

"He's lucky to have a big sister like you," Payton said.

"I'm lucky to have a little brother like him," Stef murmured.

* * *

><p>They couldn't get into the national park when they arrived, so they decided on breakfast and when they were done they both dozed off in the car for awhile before they were able to get into the park.<p>

Payton spotted his jeep first, "There's his jeep." She said as Stef parked behind it.

When they got out of the car, they saw him staring at a fire, nursing a cup of coffee and Stef took a deep breath following Payton's lead. She had already gotten them in pretty deep and didn't want to cause more.

"Mama? Stef?" His hoarse voice asked when they approached the boy.

Stef really took a look at him, it was evident he hadn't shaved since the morning before he took off, and he actually looked like a lumberjack in the flannel shirt he was wearing, jeans, and boots.

"You scared us you know that?" Payton said reaching him, sitting next to him, and wrapping an arm around him. "Don't ever do that again."

"Sorry Mama," he murmured. "I just needed to be under the radar for a little bit."

"Your sister has been worried about you," Payton said looking up at Stef who stood there hesitantly with a lip between her teeth. It reminded Ben of that day that Callie showed up at his door to apologize for calling him a fool.

"I'm sorry Stef," he said softly raising his arm so that his sister could come sit next to him.

Stef did sit next to him and curled into him, much like she used to when she was younger and would curl into her dad.

"I should be the one who's sorry," Stef murmured from her spot in her brother's arm. "And I am."

"It's okay," Ben said kissing the top of his sister's head. "I forgive you."

"So does that mean you'll be coming home?" Payton said as she watched the sister-brother duo cuddle.

"I was already planning on coming home today." Ben said. "I was just using the last of my firewood. I just needed to get things back into perspective without the noise of the city."

Stef finally let her emotions go and began to cry and shake a little in her brother's arms, Ben then wrapped both of his arms around her and she got out, "I was so worried. So, so, so worried."

"I'm sorry," Ben murmured. "It won't happen again. I'm sorry."

"You scared me," Stef said. "You-you-"

Ben started rocking his sister back and forth as he continued to whisper that he was sorry, that he wouldn't do it again, until Stef finally calmed down.

The three of them sat there in silence for awhile - trying to figure everything out. Payton knew that she could talk to Ben on the way home. She knew that what needed to happen was for him to reassure Stef that he wasn't going anywhere.

* * *

><p>It was agreed upon when the fire died down and after Ben and Stef took a little walk to talk things out, that Payton would ride back with him and Ben would meet Stef at the Adams Foster residence after that.<p>

So halfway through the trip, Payton said, "Your mom and I know... about Lilliana Rosemont."

Ben looked from the road to his mama and then back to the road, "H-how?"

"Your dad came and told your mom about it during the trial. We were waiting for you to come tell us." Payton said.

"I- I-" Ben really was at a loss to say.

"Look, I've seen Stef one other time at your birthday party and she looked like a well-put together individual. The Stef that I drove to Yosemite with looked so scared, so lost. She _wants_ to help you."

"She has a wife and five kids to worry about." Ben said.

"Could you cut the shit for about 2.5 seconds?" Payton said. "Do you realize that your sister knows how to balance being a wife, a mother, and a cop. So I think she knows how to balance being a sister too. She came to make sure you were okay. Sure, she provoked you after a panic attack, but son, she _wants_ to help you. She and Lena _want_ to help you. Let them help you. Let them in. They aren't going anywhere, no matter how hard you push them away."

Ben nodded and continued driving, "I get it Mama." He said. "Really I do."

"And I'm sorry you got the backseat when Leo showed up," Payton said placing a motherly hand on his thigh. "You deserved better than that."

"He needed you," Ben tried to point out.

"And you didn't need us?" Payton asked. "Is that why it's so hard for you to let people in? Because you think other people need them more?" She watched as her son's lips rolled together and he moved them back and forth. That's when she knew her answer. "You're worth a hell of a lot more than you give yourself credit for buddy. Believe that."

And for once Ben did.

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><p><strong>AN2:** So had to pull one of those college all-nighters last night and by the time I was done writing that paper it was going to bed was pointless, so I hashed the rest of this chapter out. Any mistakes are because of my lack thereof sleep.

The next chapter will involve the rest of the Adams Foster children and will pretty much begin where this chapter leaves off.


End file.
